


Accel World: The Black Wolf

by DarknessStorm



Series: The Dark Swordsman Series [3]
Category: Accel World, Code Geass, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:28:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 42
Words: 272,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27341221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarknessStorm/pseuds/DarknessStorm
Summary: It's been thirty years since the Demon War ended but the scars it made have yet to heal. Marth has lost his memories and most of his powers are sealed away. As he tries to find out his identity, he gets dragged into another VRMMO called Brain Burst by girl named Kuroyukihime. Will they be able to rediscover Marth's past and help him move on as they fight in the Accelerated World?
Relationships: Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito/Yuuki Asuna | Asuna, Kuroyukihime/Original Male Character
Series: The Dark Swordsman Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1996525
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This has been originally posted over a year ago on Fanfiction.net but I decided to import it and several of my other stories to this site to get a wider audience. Hope you enjoy!

**It's been thirty years since the Demon War ended but the scars it made have yet to heal. Marth has lost his memories and most of his powers are sealed away. As he tries to find out his identity, he gets dragged into another VRMMO called Brain Burst by girl named Kuroyukihime. Will they be able to rediscover Marth's past and help him move on as they fight in the Accelerated World? Sequel to Sword Art Online: The Dark Swordsman 2.**

_"Italics"_ \- thoughts or cable link

 _Italics_ \- telepathy

**Chapter 1- The Beginning**

**September 26th, 2056**

Frank Storm, nicknamed "Marth" by his two friends, was in his math class at high school. He had black hair and sapphire-blue eyes and wore a black school uniform, which was different from the usual blue uniform the other students wore, and black boots. There was a black device around his neck called a Neuro Linker that allowed him access to both augmented reality and virtual reality. He looked around eighteen years old and was surprisingly a junior. However, he was actually the only person in the classroom, no all of Umesato High School, who isn't Japanese. He was actually an American, but how he ended up in Japan was a mystery because he had no memories of his past. The earliest his memories went was when he was found by a woman named Rias Hagino, who would become his foster mother, in the Tokyo park when he was eight years old. Despite this however, Frank was able to speak fluently in Japanese and read it just as easily.

Normally Frank paid attention during his classes, but he ended up dozing off by accident, causing him to have the same nightmare that's been plaguing him for four years. In the dream, Frank was wearing a black and silver overcoat with white fur trimming on the collar, black pants and boots, and fingerless gloves of the same color. He was wielding two swords that appeared to be twins despite being different colors, Lunara and Solaris. He also had two black scabbards strapped to his back as well as a silver crystal on his chest that resembled a cross.

"What the?" Frank said in confusion.

Frank was with a group of people he couldn't make out and could tell they were fighting against a man in black armor. The dream then flashed forward to Frank piloting some sort of mech named Siren that matched his color scheme and battling a black version of Siren before Frank's Siren destroyed it and the city they were fighting above with a barrage of energy blasts.

"No," Frank said as he fidgeted in his sleep. "I don't…" Suddenly Frank woke up as he felt someone give him a light shake.

"Are you okay, Frank?" Mr. Kain, his math teacher, asked in concern. "You're not the type to fall asleep in class."

Frank rubbed his eyes as he tried to overcome his drowsiness. "Yeah. I'm sorry, Mr. Kain," he said sincerely. "It won't happen again."

"I hope not," Mr. Kain said, still looking concerned. "You're a smart kid. It would be a shame if you started slacking."

Mr. Kain then went back to his whiteboard and began writing on it, however it was only appearing in the augmented reality from the Neurolinker while the other students took virtual notes.

"I can't believe I fell asleep in class," Frank muttered in shame as the teacher continued with the lesson.

Suddenly Frank got an email from Araya, causing him to let out a groan. Araya was your typical school bully and it was well known that his favorite target was the American. However, he wasn't the only one who looked down at Frank, almost everyone in the school didn't like him. Part of this came from the fact that Frank was an orphan and the other reason was something that Araya leaked out.

 _"What does he want now?"_ he asked in frustration.

Frank opened the email, causing it let out a loud notification that would've caught him by surprise if Araya didn't overuse it so much that it has lost its effect on the black-haired teen.

"Bring me my usual lunch to the roof," Araya had said. "And don't even think of bringing your friends with you or else."

Frank looked over his shoulder and eyed Araya, who had red hair and wore a blue school uniform. Araya looked very smug until Frank sent him a cold glare.

* * *

Frank went to the roof where Araya and his goons were waiting. Frank had a small plastic bag in his hands and tossed it to Araya, who barely managed to catch it.

"You know you could just buy those yourself, Araya," Frank said coldly. "I'm not your vending machine."

Araya glared at the black-haired teen in anger. "Watch your mouth, punk," he said menacingly.

One of his goons took out one of the items from the bag and said, "Hey, this is a blueberry tart. It's supposed to be a cherry tart!"

Frank simply shrugged as he put his hands in his pockets. "They were out of the cherry ones," he replied. "It's not a big deal."

Araya gritted his teeth in frustration before cracking a smug grin. "It's fine, guys," he said. "We're all cool here, right Marth?"

The black-haired teen glared at the red-head. "Only my friends can call me 'Marth'," Frank said coldly.

The male bully cringed before regaining his confidence. "You mean your only _two_ friends," Araya retorted. "Honestly, what do they even see in you? You're just a freak with amnesia! Even your birth parents didn't want you! Why else would they abandon you?"

Frank clenched his fists tightly in anger. Everyone in school knew about his memory loss from when his foster mother found him unconscious in the city park ten years ago. He knew he had strange powers, with one of them being a rapid-healing ability, but most of them were sealed away for some reason. Somehow Araya had found out about his amnesia and healing ability back in middle school and spread the word, making it difficult for Frank to make friends. However, there were two students who befriended him, regardless of his past.

As much as Frank wanted to punch the arrogant red-head in the face for that, he didn't because Araya could just play innocent and claim Frank did it unprovoked and get him suspended, if not expelled. It didn't help that there weren't any security cameras on the roof, which is why Araya always had him meet there.

"Admit it, freak," Araya goaded. "Nobody likes you. This whole world is against you!"

Suddenly time seemed to stop as Frank saw the image of a black-haired man wearing crimson red armor with black outlines and a white cape. The man was wielding a sword and a shield that had a red cross on it. Frank began breathing at a rapid rate as panic enveloped him.

"Haha!" one of the grunts exclaimed. "The freak's shaking in his boots!"

Frank took a deep breath and calmed down as the image faded from his mind. "Don't email me again," he said sternly. "This is the last time I buy your lunch for you. Next time, buy it yourself!"

"What was that?!" Araya said in anger before Frank turned around and began walking away. "Hey, get back here! We're not finished!" Araya then sneered. "If you leave, I'll pay that girl friend of yours a little visit. I'm sure we'll have a lot of _fun_ together."

Frank stopped dead in his tracks before sending a death glare at the trio, causing them all to flinch in fear.

"Pick on me all you want, I don't care," Frank said coldly as he exuded a powerful presence, which different from his usual self. "But don't you dare lay a finger on Asuna! If you harm her in any way, I'll make you regret the day you were ever born!"

"Why you…" Araya grumbled before shouting, "The next time I see you, you better apologize or you're dead, freak!"

Frank didn't respond as he just walked away. He then ducked into the boy's bathroom and punched the wall in frustration, making a small dent in it.

"Damn it," Frank cursed, forgetting about his enhanced strength, another one of his strange powers. "What's Araya's deal with me?" He looked into a mirror before unbuttoning his jacket and moved his tie out of the way, revealing the same silver crystal from his dream that was on his chest. "Am I really so different that I can't live like everyone else?"

Frank then rebuttoned his jacket to cover the crystal before going into one of the stalls and sat on the toilet lid. He closed his eyes and said his custom Full-Dive code, "Link Start!" Frank then dived into the school's virtual world as his avatar, "Marth".

Marth found himself in the virtual world's square, where he could see tons of students chatting away. Marth was one of the few students who had their avatars be human, although his avatar was created on its own. His appearance was the same from his dream and he had an ornate black sword with a wing-shaped guard that faced the pommel strapped to his back along with a gold sword that looked identical to it. The twin swords also had a silver crystal in the hilts that looked identical to the one on his chest. Subconsciously, he knew what the swords were called: Lunara and Solaris. Both swords seemed to be made out of metal from the way they shone in the light, but Marth could tell that they were made from a different material, only he couldn't remember what it was.

Marth stared at his right palm and made a fist. "I don't know why, but every time I come to this world, it always cheers me up," he said to no one in particular.

The dual-wielder started running down the pathway towards the arena when he suddenly heard voices near the fountain.

"Hey, it's the Student Vice-President!" one girl exclaimed.

"She's so pretty!" another girl added.

There were a few other praises from other students as well. Marth curiously went up the stairs towards the fountain where he could see a crowd gathered around Kuroyukihime. She also had a very human-like avatar, only hers also had black and pink butterfly wings. Her outfit consisted of a black dress and shoes as well as a black headband to hold her bangs up and she was carrying an umbrella. Kuroyukihime also had long black hair and amber eyes and looked to be eighteen years old.

"So Kuroyukihime, how do you create such awesome avatars?" one girl asked eagerly. "Mine don't come out nearly so cool."

The Student Vice-President didn't answer as she suddenly looked over her shoulder and stared directly at Marth. The dual-wielder could've sworn that she was shocked to see him. The two teens silently locked eyes for a few moments before Marth turned with a flick of his coat and walked away.

 _"Could that really be_ him _?"_ Kuroyukihime questioned to herself as she watched the dual-wielder leave. The black-haired girl then zoned out from rest of the conversation as she thought about an incident eight years ago when she met a teenager wearing a certain black overcoat and wielding two swords.

Meanwhile Marth just continued his way to the arena. _"What was with Kuroyukihime?"_ he asked himself before shaking his head. _"Why am I even thinking about her? It's not like she knows me or anything."_

Marth then arrived at the arena and found it empty. This wasn't really a big surprise for the swordsman, since most students would rather chat in the virtual world rather than fight. Marth accessed the system menu to begin the Boss Rush minigame. Immediately a timer began to count down from ten as he drew his swords.

 _"In this world, anyone can become strong,"_ Marth thought to himself. _"That might not mean much to me, but its true, even if strength here is just a bunch of numbers."_

Immediately three lizardmen spawned in with curved swords and bucklers. The monsters hissed at the swordsman before charging at him. Marth simply smirked as he activated Spinning Totality, causing his swords to glow blue before he spun in a complete circle, killing all three monsters at once and causing them to shatter into polygons.

 _"When I fight with my swords, everything just comes naturally to me,"_ Marth thought as he fought several battles back-to-back while taking little damage to himself. _"I don't know why that is, but it sure comes in handy here."_

Marth then found himself on level 73, which was a battle with a large golem. The golem tried to crush the dual-wielder with its right arm, but Marth blocked it with a cross-block, however he did take some damage from the impact. Marth then deflected the arm away before activating Vorpal Strike with Lunara, causing its blade to glow red. He charged at the boss and stabbed it in the chest, inflicting a good amount of damage on it, before drawing back his right sword.

Marth then activated Horizontal Square with Solaris, its blade glowing blue while also canceling his post-motion delay from using Vorpal Strike, and performed four horizontal slashes on the golem's waist, inflicting even more damage on it while also drawing a square with the streaks from the attacks. Finally, Marth finished it off with Sharp Nail using Lunara. He began with an upward right to left diagonal slash against the monster's chest, followed by a left to right horizontal slash across its waist before concluding the combo with a downward right to left diagonal slash on its chest.

The golem groaned before it shattered into polygons. Suddenly the level 74 boss appeared, which was a huge red-eyed blue demonic monster with a purple cobra as a tail and was wielding a large one-edged sword.

Marth tightened his grip on his swords as the monster roared at him as it raised its sword. He found himself getting a sense of familiarity from the boss, even though this is only his third attempt on it.

"Here we go, Gleam Eyes," Marth said in a serious tone, more seriously than the average gamer would use. "This time, you're going down!"

The dual-wielder charged at the boss and hastily dodged a downward slash that ended up striking the ground instead. Marth then slashed at the boss's legs with his swords, leaving red gashes behind before blocking a horizontal slash with his swords while also taking some damage from the impact.

"Damn it," Marth cursed under his breath. "I need to go faster!"

Marth forced Gleam Eyes's sword away before activating Howling Octave with Lunara, causing the black blade to be surrounded by red flames. He began the one-handed sword skill by performing five high-speed thrusts on the boss's chest before with a downward slash in the same spot. He then jumped high in the air while also doing an upward slash before concluding the skill with an overhead slash, striking the boss's mid-section. Marth grunted as a pillar of red fire briefly surrounded them before dispersing.

Gleam Eyes managed to recover from the attack and prepared horizontal slash. Marth chose to abandon defense as the flames parted around Lunara and activated Savage Fulcrum with Solaris, causing the golden blade to glow blue. While Gleam Eyes's attack hit its mark, Marth slashed at its waist with Solaris, stopping midway. He then let out a howl as he turned the sword ninety degrees before pushing it in, causing a block of ice to appear on the boss's back before it exploded. Marth then adjusted his grip on Solaris before turning around and concluded the skill with a full-powered vertical slash, removing his left sword from the monster's chest and creating another block of ice that also exploded.

 _"Faster than that!"_ Marth thought quickly as he activated Horizontal Square with Lunara.

While Gleam Eyes unleashed a barrage of slower attacks, Marth's attacks with the sword skill were very fast before he followed it up with Vertical Square with Solaris, which was the same as the previous sword skill, only it consisted of vertical slashes. Marth then howled as he activated Vorpal Strike with his black sword. Both opponents thrusted their swords at each other, but Marth was faster and stabbed the monster's stomach, taking out the last of its HP and causing it to shatter into polygons.

"Did I…win?" Marth said in exhaustion before lowering his swords. He then checked his HP bar for the minigame and saw he only had a small chunk left. Seeing that he was too tired to continue, Marth chose to end the game right there before sheathing his swords. He then checked the scoreboard and saw that he made the top score, much to his satisfaction.

Suddenly the dual-wielder heard someone applauding behind him. He turned towards the sound and smiled when he recognized the source.

"I thought I'd find you here," Asuna said with a light smile. "So you finally reached level 74. Congratulations." (Asuna's avatar is her Undine avatar from ALO. Her rapier is strapped to her waist. She's one year older than Frank but she's in the same grade as him. She's also the one who gave Frank his nickname "Marth".)

"Hey Asuna," Marth greeted kindly. "What brings you here?"

"Uh, did you forget to meet me and Kirito for lunch?" Asuna questioned.

Marth cringed as the memory was just coming back to him. "Crap. I'm sorry. It slipped my mind."

"Was it Araya again?" Asuna asked in concern.

"Yeah, it was," Marth answered slowly. "He's still being a jerk, like always."

"Did you have another panic attack?"

"A small one but I handled it pretty quickly."

Asuna let out a deep breath. "You really should report him, you know. It's not right for Araya to be treating you this way."

"If I did that, he'd just get suspended," Marth replied. "When he comes back, he'll just go back to his bullying. Anyway, are you and Kirito still at our usual spot?"

Asuna nodded in confirmation. "Of course, but you better hurry before Kirito eats all the food," she said teasingly. "In fact, he might be doing that right now."

The duo shared a laugh before they both logged out. Frank then hurried out of the bathroom before going to the school's courtyard where he saw Asuna and Kazuto/Kirito sitting by a table. Asuna had long chestnut-brown hair, brown eyes and wore the girl's blue school uniform, a white Neuro Linker around her neck, and had a small picnic basket with her. Kazuto, on the other hand, had black hair and eyes, was around eighteen, and was wearing the same uniform as Frank and had a Neuro Linker that was the same color. Kazuto and Asuna were also dating, which Frank really didn't mind.

"Hey guys," Frank called out as he hurried over to his friends.

"About time you got here," Kazuto said with a light smile as the new arrival took a seat next to him. "A few minutes later and I would've eaten your share, Frank."

"That's not nice, Kirito!" Asuna scolded. "Anyway, let's eat."

Asuna took out two sandwiches and gave it to the boys before getting one for herself. The trio then started to chow down.

"Tasty as always," Kazuto said. "You're an awesome cook, Asuna."

The chestnut-haired girl blushed from the praise. "It was nothing. Believe it or not, I actually made these in a rush just so I could get to school on time."

"Anyway," Kazuto said before eyeing Frank. "Asuna told me that Araya was harassing you again and that you had another panic attack. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm alright," Frank passed off. "I really want to punch that guy in his arrogant face, especially since my avatar's strength is with me IRL, but I'm fine."

Both his friends laughed in response.

"I swear that if Araya knew that, _he'd_ be the one shaking in his boots," Kazuto joked.

"You got that right," Asuna agreed with a smile.

Later- virtual world

Marth was back in the arena where he saw that someone else had topped his highest score, with them reaching level 80.

"What the?" he said in confusion. "How did someone else pass me up? Not even Kazuto could make it past level 74."

As if on que, a female voice said, "Were you the one who managed to clear level 74?"

Marth turned around and saw none other than Kuroyukihime in the stands, staring right at him.

"Do you want to accelerate?" Kuroyukihime questioned further. "Do you want to take this to the next level?"

The dual-wielder raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What are you talking about?" Marth asked. "Accelerate?"

"If you want to know more then meet me in the school lounge during lunch tomorrow," Kuroyukihime replied. "I hope to see you there." She then logged out, leaving Marth even more confused.

"Was that really her?" Marth asked himself. For some reason, he felt like he was getting dragged into something big.

* * *

**The next day**

Frank went into the cafeteria before making his way to the lounge area, which was bordered by a hedge. As soon as he entered, he immediately noticed most of the students giving him strange looks.

"Isn't that the freak kid?" one boy asked.

"I thought he and those friends of his kept to themselves," a girl added. "What's he doing here?"

 _"Maybe this was a mistake,"_ Frank thought as he grimaced from all the negative attention he was getting.

Frank was about to turn and leave when a familiar voice said, "Leave him alone, everyone. He's with me."

All eyes turned to Kuroyukihime, who was sitting alone at the farthest table that conveniently had only two chairs. Her hair and eyes were the same color as her avatar's, and she was wearing a black girl's school uniform along with a black Neuro Linker and black leggings. She also had a silver bracelet on her right wrist with a single purple sword charm on it.

"He's with you, Hime?" a girl questioned. "But he's a freak!"

Frank scowled in response, which Kuroyukihime noticed.

"I highly doubt that," the vice-president said inquisitively. "If anything, he's just misunderstood." She looked directly at the dual-wielding player. "Am I right, Frank Storm?"

Everyone, including Frank, gasped in shock.

"Do Kuroyukihime and the freak kid know each other?" a student asked.

Frank chose to ignore the question as well as the other students before walking over to the Student Vice-President and took the seat in front of her.

"Are you trying to make my life harder?" Frank asked in irritation. "I don't need any more bad rumors about me."

Kuroyukihime was unfazed by his tone and brought out a link cable, which got everyone's attention. Frank was also surprised since people only used link cables when they were dating, since it allowed them to communicate through thoughts and access each other's Neuro Linkers.

"No way," a girl said in disbelief. "Is she gonna do what I think she is?"

"How long have you had your Neuro Linker?" she asked curiously, ignoring everyone else as she inserted one end of the cable into her Neuro Linker and handed the other end to Frank, who hesitantly inserted it into his.

Frank was confused by the question but said, "Around ten years or so. Right when my adopted parents took me in."

 _"I see. That will make things…interesting,"_ Kuroyukihime mused. _"Anyway, I'm sorry for dragging you all the way here, Frank Storm. I know that you're not one for attention."_

 _"It's fine,"_ Frank replied. _"So what's this about anyway? Why do you have such an interest in me?"_

 _"All will be explained shortly,"_ Kuroyukihime assured as she readied a download to send to him. _"But first I'm about to send you an application. Normally it can't be received if someone your age has a Neuro Linker for as long as you, but I believe you will be an exception. If you accept this application, your reality will never be the same again."_

Frank briefly had a vision were a blonde-haired man wearing a lab coat holding the same silver crystal Frank had on his chest.

"Because of me, your whole life was altered," the man had said.

 _"What the?"_ Frank said in confusion.

Kuroyukihime, who saw the vision as well through the link cable, simply smirked. _"Interesting,"_ she said. _"Now I'm even more convinced that this will work. So what is your answer?"_

Frank saw a small purple virtual butterfly fly to him before it became a notification if he will accept the application for a program or not.

 _"Will you tell me why you called me out if I accept it?"_ Frank asked.

_"Of course."_

Frank selected the "accept" button causing the notification to vanish into an app with a "B" on it. The app then burst into virtual flames that only the cable linkers could see as the flames surrounded them. Frank then saw the words _Brain Burst_ appear before him along with a load bar that was slowly increasing though the flames disappeared.

 _"What the hell is this?"_ Frank asked quickly. _"I've never heard of a_ Brain Burst _program before."_

 _"I'll explain once it's safely installed,"_ Kuroyukihime replied as she took a sip from her tea. _"There are cases of installation failures, but I doubt it will happen here."_

_"What makes you so sure of that?"_

_"I have my reasons."_

Frank let out a groan in annoyance. _"She's never gonna give me a straight answer,"_ he complained in his head.

 _"I heard that,"_ Kuroyukihime said smugly, causing Frank to cringe. _"And I will give you a straight answer, just once everything is ready."_

As if on que, the load bar filled up completely, causing it and the _Brain Burst_ icon to be replaced with the words "Welcome to the Accelerated World".

 _"I'm glad my intuition was right about you,"_ Kuroyukihime said with a small smile. _"You know, it took me two minutes before I decided to accept this program. I prepared a little speech to try to convince you, but it looks like wasn't needed. You really don't follow the same rules as the rest of us after all."_

Frank gasped in surprise. _"How much do you know about me?"_

_"More than you might think."_

"Hey, freak!" a voice called out.

Frank gritted his teeth as he saw Araya storming over to him in anger.

"Did you think you could avoid me?!" Araya asked bitterly. "You owe me an apology or things are gonna get ugly, real quick!"

"Frank won't be doing any such thing," Kuroyukihime spoke up with a smug expression. "In fact, he just told me that you were supposed to go to a zoo instead of our school. Talk about a mix-up."

Despite knowing that the vice-president was trying to get a rise out of Araya, Frank couldn't help but laugh, which only made Araya even angrier. The red-head grabbed Frank by his collar and forced him out of his chair.

"That's it!" Araya shouted in rage as he readied a punch. "You're history, freak!"

 _"Hurry! Say 'Burst Link' now!"_ Kuroyukihime exclaimed quickly.

"Uh, Burst Link!" Frank said quickly as Araya started swinging.

Suddenly time stopped as everything took on a shade of blue. Frank then found himself separated from his body and instead was in his avatar, Marth, and was the only one in his normal colors.

"What the?" Marth said in confusion as he looked around. "What just happened?"

"Don't even think about staring at my legs," Kuroyukihime spoke up. She was also in her avatar and not affected by the change of color. "I had hoped they'd be covered from the security cameras, but it seems I was wrong. Anyway, should I call you 'Frank' or 'Marth' when you're in this form?"

Marth turned towards the girl and folded his arms. "Frank," he said instantly. "Only my friends can call me 'Marth'."

Kuroyukihime simply sighed. "Very well. I guess I still have to earn that right. Anyway, you're probably wondering why everything is frozen. This is one of the functions of the Brain Burst program. We've simply…accelerated."

"Accelerated?" Marth questioned. He tugged at the link cable, but it wouldn't budge not matter how hard he pulled. "Well we didn't freeze time. Is this some sort of 3D reconstruction of the real world?"

"You catch on quick, no pun intended," Kuroyukihime replied. "You are correct. This is the Accelerated World, home of the Burst Linkers. It is created through the images pulled from all the security cameras that are in the lounge. By using accelerated brain waves with our Neuro Linkers, we are able to see this world with our own eyes."

"Cool," Marth commented. "How fast are we accelerating?"

"By about one thousand times the normal rate," Kuroyukihime stated. "One second in reality feels like one thousand seconds. In this world, that's sixteen minutes and forty seconds." She then eyed the image of Frank and Araya. "By using this power, a person can get out of situations such as that like by catching a punch."

Marth folded his arms. "Don't need it. You may not know this about me, but I'm stronger and faster than the average teenager."

"I know," Kuroyukihime replied. "That's why I chose you. You're not an ordinary teenager, you're special. I can tell just by looking at you, or more importantly, that." She pointed at Marth's crystal, which was gleaming on his chest. "However, I don't want you to avoid that punch."

Marth raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Wait, you _want_ me to get hit?!" he exclaimed.

"You heal fast so its not like it would be much of a problem for you, Frank," Kuroyukihime explained. "Think about it. Araya knows that security cameras are everywhere within the school. That's why he tormented you in places where they weren't installed. But this isn't like the school's roof. Thanks to my provocation, Araya's aggression is being caught right on camera for all to see and in front of multiple witnesses."

"I get it," Marth caught on. "No matter what he does, he can't avoid punishment for this. You want me to take the hit in order to get him in even more trouble."

"Exactly. Now do you see why I asked you to come here? But that's not all I want you to do. When Araya punches you, throw yourself at me, hard."

"Are you sure about that?" Marth questioned. "I've got a healing ability, so injuries don't really bother me, but you don't. What if you get hurt really bad?"

"Don't worry about me," Kuroyukihime replied, her eyes looking as serious as ever. "I know what I'm doing." The black-haired girl suddenly grabbed Marth's hand, much to his surprise, and pulled him towards the image of his real body and placed his hand on its shoulder.

"To stop accelerating, say 'Burst Out'," Kuroyukihime continued as she went over to her real body. "Make sure to put on a good show."

"Okay," Marth said slowly. "But don't blame me if you get really hurt."

"Burst Out!" the teens said in sync.

Time began to move again, and Frank let Araya punch him in the face. Frank then threw himself backward, knocking himself into Kuroyukihime. When he regained focus, he saw some blood dripping from the vice-president's head and her eyes were closed.

"Are you okay?" Frank asked in concern, ignoring the screams from the students and Araya and his goons were being taken away by the teachers.

 _"Don't worry, it's just a scratch,"_ Kuroyukihime replied. _"We're just maximizing the damage on Araya. Now he'll never bother you again."_

Frank let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. _"Has anyone ever tell you that you're reckless?"_

 _"You'd be the first,"_ Kuroyukihime said before leaning into the male teen and whispering, "I look forward to the future of our friendship, Frank Storm."

"What did I get myself into?" Frank muttered in annoyance.

Kuroyukihime simply giggled. "One more thing I should tell you. When you leave school today, don't remove your Neuro Linker until we meet up here tomorrow. Also don't connect to the global net, no matter what."

"Okay, but why?"

"I'll explain it tomorrow."

"Oh, come on!"

* * *

After classes ended, Frank shut off his Neuro Linker's connection and headed to the front gate to meet up with Kazuto and Asuna.

"We heard what happened at lunch," Kazuto said as the trio started walking home. "Are you okay, Frank?"

"Yeah, my bruise is already gone. Do you guys know what happened to Araya?"

"He and his goons got expelled," Asuna replied. "I'm glad they're gone but did you really have to put yourself at risk like that? What if you used your powers back there? You'd be in more trouble than Araya if you did."

"Which is why I didn't use them," Frank said. "I don't want another incident like _that_ to happen again. Besides, I've got you two to help me if I get in a jam."

Both Kazuto and Asuna smiled.

"That you do, Frank," Kazuto replied. "We're a team. We look after each other, no matter what."

"So Frank, I heard you cable linked with Kuroyukihime," Asuna added with a smug look. "Care to share what happened?"

Frank reeled back in surprise. "Uh, she, uh, just wanted to talk, uh, about something," he said nervously. "She heard that I cleared level 74 in the Boss Rush minigame and wanted a few pointers on it."

Asuna raised an eyebrow in suspicion, clearly not believing him. "Oh really? The vice-president of the student council wanted gamer tips from you. Really?"

"Uh…"

Thankfully Kazuto came to his friend's rescue and said, "Lay off him, Asuna. If Frank wants to talk about it, let him do it when he's ready to."

The chestnut-haired girl sighed in defeat. "All right. I'm just concerned is all. Not that many people really see Marth as a person. I just don't want him to be taken advantage of."

Frank simply smiled. "Don't worry, Asuna. I'll be careful. Besides," he made a fist as purple lightning briefly sparked off it, "I know how to handle myself."

"That you do," Asuna admitted. "Just know that if you need me and Kirito, we'll be there for you."

"You got it."

* * *

**That Night**

Frank was tossing and turning in his sleep as he had a nightmare. He was in his "Marth" avatar piloting a silver Siren mech and was firing multiple silver particle beams down at his opponent, badly damaging the city of Tokyo. The terrified screams from the people below filled the air as they ran for their lives.

"No," Frank muttered in the real world. "No."

Frank then found himself in a dark room, holding the dead body of a girl with purple hair. Tears were streaming from his eyes as he sobbed loudly.

"This isn't what I wanted," Frank cried out as he held the girl close. "Please don't let this be true!"

Frank then saw the back of himself wielding Lunara and Solaris. The duplicate was wearing a blackwyrm coat, black boots and pants, and black fingerless gloves as well as the same silver crystal on his chest. He also had two scabbards of the same color strapped to his back.

"You can't keep denying your past," the duplicate said. "Sooner or later, you have to accept who you are."

"What?" Frank said in confusion before the duplicate was replaced by a black wolf howling in the moonlight.

Frank then woke with a scream. He was covered in sweat and breathing hard. "What on earth was that?" he asked himself as he held his head in his right hand. "That nightmare was different than the others." He then thought about the duplicate he saw. "That appearance…it couldn't be…"

* * *

**The Next Day**

Frank was ready to head out to school when he ran into Rias, who was sitting by the dinner table since she still had time before she needed to go to work. She had long red hair and green eyes and looked to around thirty-five years old. She worked at a company and occasionally had to leave on business trips, but Frank was mature enough to take care of himself when that happened.

"Hey Mom, I'm running late," Frank said quickly as he grabbed his bag in a hurry. "Can I have some money for breakfast at school."

"Of course, Frank." Rias tried to send money to her son, but it didn't work since he wasn't on the global net, so Frank reconnected so she could.

"Frank," Rias said suddenly as he was about to walk out the door of the apartment. "I heard you screaming last night. Did you have another nightmare?"

Frank slowly nodded, knowing better than to hide it from her. "Yeah. They've been happening since I fourteen. The weird part is that they don't feel like dreams at all. They almost feel like…memories or something."

"Do you think it might be you trying to remember your past?" Rias questioned in concern.

"I don't know. To be honest, they kinda scare me at times. Especially the one where I'm destroying Tokyo with some sort of robot."

His mother's eyes filled with sorrow. "I'm sorry you're going through this, Frank. If you need someone to talk to, I'm always here," Rias offered.

Frank gave his mother a warm smile. Rias was one of the few people that he was genuinely close to. Even though they weren't related by blood, and she knew about his powers, she still loved him. He'll always be grateful for that. "Thanks Mom. I'll see you after school."

"Okay. Be careful. And remember not to use your powers!"

Frank then hurried out the door and left the apartment building. _"I feel like I'm forgetting something,"_ he thought to himself.

Suddenly time stopped and the blue 3D world appeared as Brain Burst activated on its own.

 _"What's going on?"_ Frank asked himself.

The 3D world was then replaced by the apocalyptic ruins of a city, which reminded Frank of his nightmares. He then saw a timer appear over his head along with two HP bars and special gauges. Under one of the HP bars read "Black Wolf".

Frank then looked at himself and gasped in shock. He was wearing some kind of black futuristic armor that resembled a twin-tailed overcoat with silver highlights, black gauntlets and boots, along with a black visor that covered his eyes and nose, but it did expose his black hair and ears. His silver crystal could be seen prominently on his chest. He also had Lunara and Solaris strapped to his back in black scabbards.

_"No way. Is this a virtual world? But how did I get here?"_

Suddenly Black Wolf heard the engine of a motorcycle revving and turned towards the source, where he saw a person dressed like a biker with a skull helmet covering his face while riding a motorcycle.

"I haven't fought on the World's End stage in a while. Lucky me!" the biker exclaimed in glee. "And I'm facing a newbie! That makes me super lucky! You, on the other hand, are mega _unlucky_!"

The biker revved his engine before charging at Black Wolf, full-throttle.

 _"Don't tell me,"_ Black Wolf realized. _"This world… is a VRMMO!"_

**To be continued**

* * *

**Original author's note: Wow, this turned out longer than I expected. Sorry about that. I just wanted to get a part of Marth's childhood established right off the bat. The next chapter will probably be just as long because it will delve into the incident Marth and Kuroyukihime hinted at. And just for clarification, Haruyuki/Silver Crow will not be playing a role in this story since Marth is taking his place. If you like Haruyuki, I'm sorry in advance. Anyway, I'll see you guys in the next chapter.**


	2. Brain Burst

**Chapter 2- Brain Burst**

**September 27th, 2056**

Right before Ash Roller charged at Black Wolf, the latter noticed other players spectators were watching from atop a building.

"Looks like someone just joined _Brain Burst_ ," a female green avatar mused. "He certainly has a unique avatar and it's a Black-type."

"Let's see if he knows how to use it," a male player said. His avatar resembled a gray robot.

 _"They must all be Burst Linkers,"_ Black Wolf guessed. He then turned his attention to Ash Roller, who was charging right at him on his motorcycle. _"Oh crap!"_

* * *

Frank was in the school lounge with Kuroyukihime during lunch, and were cable linked so they could talk in private. Kuroyukihime giggled as she saw the irritated face on Frank as he held his face with his right hand while leaning on the table.

 _"Something wrong?"_ Kuroyukihime asked curiously.

 _"Yeah, I was ambushed in a video game and got my ass handed to me,"_ Frank said in frustration. _"You should've told me that_ Brain Burst _is VRMMO, then I would've been prepared."_

 _"Well that's what you get for breaking your promise to me,"_ Kuroyukihime replied. _"At least this will make it easier to explain things. As you just found out,_ Brain Burst _is a fighting game where players can fight each other in a virtual world."_

 _"Okay, but why do players fight each other in_ Brain Burst _? What do they get out of it?"_

_"It's simple. We Burst Linkers fight so we can continue to accelerate. Accelerate and I'll show you."_

Frank nodded in acknowledgement.

 _"Burst Link!"_ the black-haired duo said in sync.

Time then stopped as they entered the 3D virtual world and were now in their avatars (Frank's in his Marth avatar, not the Duel Avatar).

"Okay," Marth said slowly as he and Kuroyukihime just stood there. "Now what?"

"If you look to the left of your screen, you'll see a new desktop icon among the others," Kuroyukihime explained. "That icon will grant you access to the _Brain Burst_ menu."

Marth noticed the icon and selected it to open the menu. Kuroyukihime then instructed him to select the match-making option, which brought out a list containing two names, Black Wolf and Black Lotus.

"I'm guessing Black Lotus is you," Marth said.

"You are correct," Kuroyukihime confirmed. "Our names are the only ones that are on the list because we're the only Burst Linkers that are connected to the school's local network."

"I see," Marth said in understanding as things started to click. "That's why you told me to disconnect from the global network yesterday."

"Yes. Now click on my name and challenge me to a battle. We won't actually be fighting each other. We'll just wait for the timer to go out and call it a draw."

"All right. That would be the best way for me to understand everything." Marth selected Black Lotus from the list and sent a challenge to her.

Suddenly the world changed to a grassy field with frozen setting sun. Marth then found that he changed into Black Wolf and standing in front of Kuroyukihime, who's avatar hadn't changed.

"Oh, this is the Twilight stage," Kuroyukihime mused. "This is actually a rare stage." She looked her opponent over, especially at his crystal. "So this is your Duel Avatar. 'Black Wolf'. I should've expected as much for your color. And your avatar is human, that's very rare."

"Really?" Black Wolf asked as his visor retracted, revealing his blue eyes underneath.

"Correction, it's rare for a Duel Avatar to take on a Burst Linker's exact appearance." Kuroyukihime approached Black Wolf and held his cheek in her hand, much to Black Wolf's surprise. "I think this look suits you. We actually match."

"We do?" Black Wolf said in confusion. "Um, how was this avatar created? I think I'd remember making it."

"Actually, you did create it," Kuroyukihime replied as she lowered her hand. "Think about it. Did you happen to have a strange dream last night?"

Black Wolf slowly nodded. "Yeah, I had a nightmare and it was more intense than usual. I can still remember it perfectly. People screaming as they ran for their lives and the howling of a wolf."

Kuroyukihime's eyes filled with pity. "I see. That nightmare was the result of the Brain Burst program scanning your brainwaves to create the ideal avatar for you; a manifestation of your hopes and fears. It's actually rare for a Burst Linker to remember the details of the dream itself."

Black Wolf looked himself over. "So I created this avatar?" He stared at his palm and made a fist. "If I concentrate, I can feel a strange power deep inside me. Is that normal?"

"Not exactly, but its good to hear," Kuroyukihime replied. "If you can feel a strange power, then your avatar must have gotten the abilities you have in the real world. It seems my gamble on you paid off."

"Your gamble?" Black Wolf then examined Kuroyukihime's avatar. "Um, was your avatar made through Brain Burst too?"

"No, this is an avatar that I created. It's a long story, but I had to seal away my original Duel Avatar. Unfortunately, it was rather ugly, a truly hideous monster. But that's enough about me. Frank, you were attacked by another Burst Linker this morning. Do you remember how the result screen read?"

Black Wolf nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. It had my name at level one and something called Burst Points. After the fight ended, mine went down from 99 to 89."

"That's the answer to your first question," Kuroyukihime said in a serious tone. "The Burst Points are why we come and fight in this cruel world. The Burst Points represent how many times you can accelerate, with each acceleration equaling one point. If you want to get more Burst Points, then you have to defeat other players and win their Burst Points. When you win a fight against someone equal to your level, then you gain ten Burst Points.

"The power of acceleration is unparalleled. With it, you can ace any test on any given subject, win fights, become a fantastically rich gambler or a champion athlete. Once you taste the advantage it gives you, you have no choice but to keep fighting to maintain that power forever."

Black Wolf folded his arms as he digested the information. "I see. So what happens when a player loses all their Burst Points?"

"That is very simple." A gust of wind blew past the duo, causing their hair to sway. "They lose _Brain Burst_ for life."

Black Wolf let out a gasp. "Seriously? That's harsh!"

"Maybe so, but that's how it is," Kuroyukihime explained. "When you run out of Burst Points, _Brain Burst_ will automatically uninstall itself from your Neuro Linker and you will never be able to accelerate again. Even changing Neuro Linkers won't work because the program will identify your brainwaves."

It took a moment for the dual-wielder to process the information. "Wow. Talk about pressure on the players."

"Frank, if you want to go back to your old life, this will be your last chance," Kuroyukihime continued as she moved closer to the dual-wielder. "Those bullies are gone for good. You could have a chance at a normal life. The choice is all yours."

Black Wolf locked eyes with the female Burst Linker in silence for a few moments.

"I doubt you would've gone through so much trouble just so I can have a normal life, or at least a somewhat normal life," Black Wolf said finally. "You said you had a big gamble on me, so it's clear that you know more about me than the other students. Just how much do you know about me?"

Kuroyukihime was silent for a few seconds. "Everything," she confessed. "I know about your adoption and that you possess special powers besides that healing ability. Powers that include becoming your game avatars and using their powers in real life. I know this because I saw you do it firsthand."

"What are you talking about?"

"Think back. It was eight years ago during a school field trip. And it was when you saved my life."

* * *

**Flashback- 8 years ago**

Frank, Kazuto, Asuna, Kuroyukihime and their classmates were in a museum. Frank and his friends kept to themselves as the tour guide was explaining a chunk of a large black gemstone. Both Frank, Kazuto and Asuna felt a sense of familiarity from the stone but didn't know why.

"This gemstone was recovered from the bottom of the ocean when the Shadow Fortress was destroyed during the last day of the Demon War," the tour guide explained. "The Alfheim Warriors fought the fortress's master and managed to defeat him, but two of them fell in the end. One of the Alfheim Warriors' leaders, who was known as the Dark Swordsman, then disappeared without a trace. It wasn't long when the rest of the guild vanished as well. To this day, we have no idea what happened to them or what the purpose of this stone was."

"Ah!" Frank yelped as his forehead suddenly flared with pain.

"Are you okay, Frank?" Kazuto asked in concern.

The pain soon subsided. "Yeah, just a brief headache," he answered as he rubbed his forehead. "But that story sounds familiar to me. Almost like I was there."

"I know the feeling," Asuna said. "Talk about weird."

Suddenly the museum's alarms went off, nearly throwing the students in a panic as the teacher tried to calm them down.

"Attention everyone!" an announcer said through the speakers. "Evacuate the museum immediately. Monsters have infiltrated the building!"

Most of the students screamed in fear, but Frank, Kazuto and Asuna froze in their tracks.

"M-monsters? Here?" Kazuto sputtered out. "I thought they disappeared after the Demon War ended. What are they doing here?!"

"Frank, Kazuto, Asuna!" the teacher called out. "Stay with the group!"

The trio noticed their group was leaving, prompting them to hurry after them. Surprisingly they all got out without a problem, however it went downhill when the teacher did a headcount on the students.

"Kuroyukihime's missing," he said in a panic. "Has anyone seen her?"

Most of the students shook their heads.

"She must still be inside the building," one student said.

"Oh no," Asuna said in fear. "If she's inside then she's in danger."

Frank gritted his teeth in frustration. Suddenly he began sprinting back to the museum.

"Frank!" Kazuto and Asuna exclaimed in worry.

"Frank Storm! Get back here this instant!" the teacher shouted with authority, but Frank ignored them all.

 _"I can't believe I'm doing this,"_ Frank thought as he ran into the museum. _"I don't even know this girl, but I can't just ignore this when I can do something to help."_

Frank's crystal began glowing under his shirt. When he took his next step, it wasn't the boot from a ten-year old but as an eighteen-year old, his Marth avatar. However, he was wearing a blackwyrm coat, black boots and pants, and black fingerless gloves. His crystal could be seen prominently on his chest. Lunara and Solaris appeared in black scabbards on his back. Marth then came to a stop as he heard movement up ahead.

Marth ducked into a corner and peeked behind it, where he saw three goblins chatting among themselves.

"This is so boring," one goblin said. "Why are we even here again?"

"We're here to locate the new Dawn Remnant," the second goblin replied. "She supposed to have a connection to the Dark Swordsman. We need her to force him out of hiding."

 _"Who are they talking about?"_ Marth questioned. _"And 'Dark Swordsman'? Why does that sound so familiar to me?"_

Marth didn't have a chance to continue his thoughts as he heard a high-pitched scream from across the hallway.

"What was that?" the third goblin questioned as he and his comrades turned towards the source.

"That was a girl's scream," the second goblin answered. "It might be from the Dawn Remnant. Let's check it out."

The three monsters began heading in the direction the scream came from, unaware they were about to cross paths with the dual-wielder.

"I don't think so," Marth spoke up as he revealed himself to the monsters while drawing his swords.

The goblins were all shocked to see him.

"I thought the humans couldn't use their powers anymore!" the first goblin exclaimed.

"Clearly this one didn't get the memo," the third one said. "Let's kill him."

Marth simply got in a fighting stance as the goblins charged at him with their swords.

* * *

**Meanwhile**

Kuroyukihime was running away from two goblins and lizardmen, who were closing in on her.

"Stop running, brat!" the first lizardman exclaimed. "You can't escape!"

 _"What am I going to do?"_ Kuroyukihime asked herself as she continued running as fast as her legs could carry her. _"I could try accelerating but something tells me it won't work here."_ She then found herself in a room with no other exits. _"Oh no."_

"End of the line, little girl," the second goblin said. "You gave us all a good workout, but it ends here. Now be good and come with us."

Kuroyukihime's filled with terror as she was backed into a wall and fell flat on her butt.

"Someone help me, please!" the black-haired girl shouted as loud as she could.

"Shout all you want, no one's coming to save you," the first goblin said smugly. He then reached out to the little girl, who closed her eyes in fear.

Suddenly Kuroyukihime heard a loud grunt and the swinging of blades. She quickly opened her eyes and saw Marth sever the goblin's arm with his dual swords before standing in front of her in a defensive manner. The goblin's severed arm dissolved into shadows before it even hit the ground.

The now one-armed goblin howled in pain. "Why you little punk!" he said angrily. "You'll pay for that!"

Marth narrowed his eyes at the monsters. "If you're all as weak as the monsters I killed to get here, then I doubt it," he answered.

The monsters were all shocked.

"Did he really kill the others?" the first lizardman asked in shock.

"He must be bluffing," the second goblin retorted. "There's no way a boy like him can kill monsters like us."

That seemed to reinvigorate the other monsters as they prepared to surround the dual-wielder.

Kuroyukihime somehow managed to stand back up and clutched the back of Marth's coat tightly.

"What now?" she asked in a terrified tone.

"Everything will be alright," Marth assured. "Just stay behind me and you'll be fine."

The first lizardman charged at the swordsman, who easily deflected its attack before cutting it in half, causing it to dissolve into shadows. The other lizardman and goblin went down just as quickly, leaving just the one-armed goblin alone.

"Just who are you?" the goblin said in fear. He then gasped in realization and took a step back. "That coat… those swords… It can't be. You're the Dark… _Hrk!_ "

Marth didn't allow the goblin to finish his sentence as he charged at the monster at high-speed before unleashing Vorpal Strike with Lunara, stabbing it in the heart and killing it. With the danger gone, Marth sheathed his swords and faced Kuroyukihime.

"Are you okay?" Marth asked in concern.

The little girl responded by tackling the dual-wielder in a tight hug. "I was so scared!" Kuroyukihime said quickly as tears leaked from her eyes. "I thought I was gonna die!"

Marth wrapped his arms around the girl's back to comfort her as her tears stained his shirt. "It's okay. You're safe now."

Whatever moment the duo had ended when they heard the voices of the teachers and staff shouting, "Frank! Kuroyukihime! Where are you?"

The duo separated before rising to their feet. "Um, who are you?" Kuroyukihime asked slowly but saw that Marth had disappeared. "Where did he go?"

In actuality, Marth had just used his Hiding skill to obscure himself from sight while ducking behind a pillar. He then watched as the teacher entered the room and led Kuroyukihime away while thinking of what the goblin had said.

 _"Was he trying to say that_ I'm _the Dark Swordsman?"_ Marth questioned before shaking his head at the thought. _"That's impossible. There's no way I could've been around during the Demon War. But still… just hearing that title and being in this form fills me with guilt. Why is that?"_

Marth dismissed his thoughts before sneaking out of the museum to rejoin his friends.

* * *

**Present day**

"I remember that day," Black Wolf said. "But how did you figure out it was me?"

"It wasn't really that hard, especially since both your real appearance and your avatar look the same," Kuroyukihime explained. "But what really connected the dots was that silver crystal on your chest. Before I decided to introduce you to _Brain Burst_ , I looked into your past and found out about you possess other abilities, and that you haven't taken on the appearance you were in that day since then. With how _Brain Burst_ works, I thought maybe we could form an alliance of sorts."

"An alliance? What do you mean?"

"Take a look at your move listing and you'll see what I mean."

Black Wolf opened his move list and saw that it had all his strengths, which was slash attacks and agility. The list also included multiple sword skills that he has used, including Vorpal Strike and Horizontal Square. However, the rest was labeled as unknown, including his special move.

"What the…?" Black Wolf said in confusion.

Kuroyukihime peered over his shoulder and eyed the list. "Just as I thought. It seems most of your powers are missing, not just your memories," she said. "If we can play our cards right, not only would we be able to unlock those powers but your memories as well."

The male Burst Linker eyed her in disbelief. "Are you serious? Hold on, you said you wanted an alliance with me. What do you get out of this?"

"It's a long story but I've gotten myself into some trouble again. Your powers make you a wild card, something I desperately need right now. However, I won't force you into this, Frank. If you don't want to help me, then I won't hold it against you."

Black Wolf tightened his fists as a brief vision of him fighting alongside a purple-haired swordswoman in a labyrinth of sorts. Somehow, he knew she was important to him at some point, but he also felt a sense of dread wash over him.

He then let out a heavy sigh. "I can't in good conscience turn my back on a girl in need, especially if she went out of her way to help me," Black Wolf said slowly. "You got yourself a deal. I'll be your wild card."

Kuroyukihime couldn't help but smile in joy as she moved in front of the black Duel Avatar. "Does that mean I can call you 'Marth' now?"

Black Wolf let out an amused chuckle. "Nope. You still need to earn it."

"Worth a shot." Kuroyukihime's smile faded. "Why do you act so distant, Frank?" She then held out her hand to Black Wolf. "Whenever I reach out, you just move farther away. Are you ever going to let this gap between us be closed?"

Black Wolf lowered his head in shame and stared at the grass beneath him. "Don't take it personally," he replied. "Because of Araya, it's been difficult for me to trust others. Plus, something just keeps holding me back, a feeling of guilt and sorrow that I can't even begin to explain."

"I see," Kuroyukihime said slowly. "Now then. I think it's time you learn how to fight in this world. A Duel Avatar's strengths and weaknesses lie within their color. Our avatars are black, so they specialize in slash attacks and high speed, but they have low defense. However, we can also change our characteristics under certain conditions. Ash Roller, on the other hand, gets his power from his bike. Because of its loud sounds, he can't conceal his position and he probably doesn't have any battle abilities by himself. If you can take out his bike, he'll be powerless."

"And if I fail to take out the bike?" Black Wolf asked nervously.

"Then use your speed to evade him and let the timer run out. If you play your cards right and land an attack at just the right moment, you'll win. And keep a constant eye on your special gauge. I have a feeling it will come in handy in the fights ahead."

"But I don't even know what it does," Black Wolf replied as he scrolled through his special move list. "All I know is that it has multiple variants but none of them are even named."

"I'm sure they will reveal themselves in time," Kuroyukihime stated. "Just have a little faith in yourself, Frank."

* * *

Frank and Kuroyukihime logged out of Brain Burst and disconnected the link cable from their Neuro Linkers.

"You sure have a lot of faith in me," Frank said as they began to eat their lunches.

"Of course I do," Kuroyukihime replied honestly. "I've seen what you're capable of. I know you can do this."

The duo was then joined by a girl named Mugumi. "Hey Hime, I'm sorry for intruding like this, but this is the second time this guy is here with you. Are you guys in a relationship or something?"

Kuroyukihime picked up her cup and took a sip from it. "Well, the truth is I invited him to ask him out, but he rejected me," she said nonchalantly.

Frank spit out his drink in surprise while the other students who had gathered by the table yelped in surprise.

**Later- After School**

"Why did you say that, Hime?!" Frank questioned in frustration as he and Kuroyukihime walked out of the school. "Are you trying to make even more rumors about me?!"

"All I did was tell the truth," Kuroyukihime said simply. "And I got to see a hilarious sight because of it." She let out a giggle as she sent Frank a screenshot of him spitting out his drink.

"You took a screenshot!?" Frank exclaimed in outrage as he deleted the screenshot.

"You should actually be proud of this," Kuroyukihime continued as they stopped just outside the school gate. "I have rejected many boys in the past, but you're the first to reject me. Anyway, once you pass that gate, you'll automatically be connected to the global net. Once you do, accelerate before anyone can attack you. Then find Ash Roller and challenge him."

Frank nodded in acknowledgement. "Got it. This will be Black Wolf's official debut," he said before taking a deep breath.

Kuroyukihime then gave him a slight push on the back. "Good luck out there," she said with a smile.

* * *

Black Wolf was hiding out on top of a bridge in the World's End stage, watching as a compass icon homed in on Ash Roller's position. There were a dozen other players spectating, with one of them being a small robot wearing glasses and had a laptop (Tin Writer).

Black Wolf's eyes were closed behind his visor as he listened intently for the sounds of a bike engine while blocking out most other sounds.

 _"Guess it's a good thing everything comes so naturally to me, especially in the virtual world,"_ Black Wolf thought. _"It's almost feels like I've lived here my whole life."_ He then heard the sounds of a bike engine coming towards him. _"I'll figure out why later. It's time."_

The swordsman opened his eyes and rose to his feet while drawing his swords as Ash Roller appeared in the distance, calmly driving his bike, oblivious to the danger looming ahead.

"Watch out, Ash Roller!" Black Wolf said fiercely. "You're about to see that this wolf has fangs!"

Black Wolf jumped high into the air and stabbed a surprised Ash Roller in the chest with Lunara as he descended. Ash Roller lost some HP and was thrown off his bike while Black Wolf lost some HP due to the fall damage.

"You little punk," Ash Roller said angrily as he struggled to get back up.

Most of the spectators were impressed by the dual-wielding swordsman.

 _"Time to get moving,"_ Black Wolf thought quickly. The dual-wielder jumped onto a lamppost and used it to jump onto the roof of a nearby building. Meanwhile Ash Roller was cussing over the condition of his bike.

"Looks like someone got the hang of his avatar," a pink female player commented.

Black Wolf saw that the spectating players had moved to the nearby rooftops for a better view.

"Yeah, he's doing much better than before," a male player said. "I wonder who his guardian is."

"Don't know, but if he wins then I'm adding him to my watch list," the green female player replied. "Go get him, kid!"

Black Wolf cracked a light smile before he heard Tin Writer say, "I don't know. I doubt it will be that easy."

Black Wolf looked down at the street and saw Ash Roller on his bike again.

 _"Damn it,"_ the dual-wielder cursed. _"I should've dealt with that bike when I had the chance."_

"Don't think you've won just yet, newbie!" Ash Roller shouted. "I'm about to make you dance to the beat of my bike!" He proceeded to drive towards the building that Black Wolf was on. "Let's roll!"

"Does he think he drive his bike all the way up here?" Black Wolf questioned.

Ash Roller answered his question by activating rocket thrusters on his bike, allowing him to drive fast enough to speed up side of the building.

"Are you kidding me?!" Black Wolf shouted in frustration before moving back to avoid Ash Roller as the latter landed on the roof.

"Thanks to that beatdown I gave you this morning, I reached level 2," Ash Roller explained confidently. "Then I took that level-up bonus and cashed it in for some awesome wall-climbing powers. Pretty sweet, right?"

Black Wolf simply smirked. "Just because you're a higher level, doesn't mean you'll win. Didn't anyone ever tell you not to corner a wolf before?"

Ash Roller growled. "We'll see about that, newbie!" He then drove at his opponent, prompting Black Wolf to jump to a nearby rooftop, but Ash Roller was in hot pursuit.

Ash Roller managed to ram into Black Wolf, taking out a chunk of the latter's HP and knocking him back.

"Damn it," Black Wolf cursed as he felt the pain from the attack. "This world really is ruthless."

Ash Roller skidded to a stop in front of the swordsman. "What? No counterattack? Looks like this wolf's nothing but a little puppy dog!" He revved his engine again before driving towards Black Wolf again.

 _"At this rate I'll run out of HP before Ash Roller does,"_ Black Wolf thought. _"What can I do to turn this around?"_

Black Wolf's thoughts were interrupted as he jumped sideways to avoid Ash Roller's attack, but the biker just circled around before landing another hit, reducing Black Wolf's HP even more while also knocking him to the ground.

"I guess this guy hasn't improved since last time," a male player said with a laugh.

Ash Roller skidded to a stop as he watched Black Wolf support himself with Lunara while Solaris laid next to him.

 _"I might have to use my special move, but I don't even know what it does,"_ Black Wolf thought. _"Is it even worth the risk to try it?"_

Black Wolf found himself looking up at a tall building, where he could've sworn he saw Kuroyukihime watching; silently encouraging him to get back up.

"What the hell am I saying?" Black Wolf said to himself. "I made this avatar. It has all my powers." He grabbed Solaris with his left hand and forced himself to stand, ignoring the pain he felt from doing so. "I made Hime a promise. I help her, she helps me." He tightened his grip on his swords as the crystals in their hilts briefly lit up. "I won't allow myself to lose here!"

Ash Roller laughed maniacally as he charged at Black Wolf again. However, Black Wolf dodged his attack at the last second as Lunara began flashing green.

"Sonic…Leap!" Black Wolf exclaimed as he performed a powerful upward slash with Lunara on the bike, severing its rear wheel.

"Gah!" Ash Roller cried out as he was thrown off of his bike while also taking damage. His motorcycle skidded behind him in pieces. "My bike! You broke my bike!"

Everyone else was shocked as well.

"All that power in just one attack?!" a male player exclaimed.

"Was that a special move?" another player added.

Tin Writer eyed the dual-wielder closely, or more specifically, his swords. "Not exactly," he said while adjusting his glasses. "That was the one-hit one-handed sword skill, Sonic Leap. I had heard weapons had special attacks in the older VRMMOs, but I never thought they existed in _Brain Burst_. I wonder what else this swordsman is capable of."

"Well regardless, he just made it to my list," the green female player said as she added Black Wolf to her watch list.

Meanwhile, Kuroyukihime smiled at seeing her protégé's comeback. _"Keep it up, Frank,"_ she thought to herself. _"You're nearly there. Finish this."_

"You little fart-breather!" Ash Roller shouted in anger. "How dare you break my bike! You'll pay for this!"

Ash Roller recklessly charged at the dual-wielder on foot and tried to punch him, but Black Wolf easily evaded it.

"Relax, it'll be good as new after our match ends," Black Wolf said as he kept evading Ash Roller's punches and kicks. He then blocked a punch with Lunara. "But it'll end in _my_ victory."

Ash Roller noticed that Solaris was glowing red. "Oh fuck," he said, knowing he was finished.

"Sharp Nail!" Black Wolf shouted as he took out the last of Ash Roller's HP with the three-hit sword skill.

Frank then found himself back in the real world again before Kuroyukihime patted him on the back.

"You did it, Black Wolf," she said cheerfully. "You really turned it around back there. Those sword skills of yours really are something."

Frank couldn't help but smile as he faced his fellow Burst Linker. "I guess they are."

"I don't mean to pry, but how did you obtain them in the first place? There aren't any VRMMOs that use them anymore."

Frank shrugged. "Beats me. I've been able to do them for as long as I can remember. It's almost like they're saved to my very being."

"Interesting," Kuroyukihime said. "I'm sure we'll find out the reason eventually, but one thing at a time. Did you get your Burst Points back?"

"Yeah, plus some more. Must've been because Ash Roller was a higher level than me."

The female Burst Linker was briefly surprised by the news before giggling. "That explains that wall-climbing trick. Anyway, that was a great win, Frank. I think we should go celebrate."

"There you are!" a familiar voice cried out.

The duo turned and saw none other than Asuna, who did not look happy.

"Just what are you up to with Marth?" Asuna asked in suspicion as she glared at the student vice-president. "Ever since yesterday, you've been having private conversations with him at school. Now there's even more rumors about Marth and I know he hates that."

She stormed over to Kuroyukihime, prompting Frank to reel back in fear. Even he knew better than to tick off Asuna.

"I'm warning you," Asuna continued as her tone grew bitter. "If you hurt Marth in any way, you'll regret it."

What was shocking was that Kuroyukihime was unfazed by the threat. In fact, she was actually smiling.

"Oh really?" Kuroyukihime replied smugly.

Frank gritted his teeth nervously as he eyed the two girls. _"This isn't gonna end well."_

**To be continued**

* * *

**Original author's note: Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place. Anyway, Marth's officially made his debut as Black Wolf, protégé of Black Lotus. While this story will be following the Accel World anime, I will be changing it to better fit my narrative and include my own plot revolving around Marth and his memories, specifically of him as the Dark Swordsman. Updates might be a while since I need to do a lot of planning so I hope you'll all be patient with me. With that out of the way, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**


	3. The Black King

Kuroyukihime and Asuna were staring at each other intently. Frank could feel the tension building up in the air.

"Uh, Asuna," Frank spoke up.

"I'm not talking to you, Marth," Asuna interrupted in a fierce tone, causing the male teen to fall silent.

Kuroyukihime smirked. "Is that what you think of me?" she questioned smugly. "That I'm using Frank for my own benefit."

"If I'm wrong then tell me," Asuna replied, not changing her tone. "I know Marth and I know he hates being the center of attention."

"I see. Well even if you're right about me, I fail to see how this concerns you."

"Don't play that card with me!" Asuna retorted. "You know just like everyone else that I've been friends with Marth since middle school. Of course this concerns me!"

Kuroyukihime simply chuckled before placing her hand on Frank's right shoulder. "My mistake," she said. "But I'm more than just his friend. You see, I asked Frank to be my boyfriend and we're about to have our first date."

Both Frank and Asuna were taken aback. There were also some students that were shocked as well.

_"Did Hime really just say that?!"_ Frank shouted in his head as his face went red in embarrassment. _"I'm so dead after this."_

Kuroyukihime then took Frank by the arm and said, "Have a nice day, Asuna." She then proceeded to lead Frank away, leaving a speechless Asuna behind, who looked concerned for her friend.

* * *

After walking for a bit, Kuroyukihime let go of Frank's arm.

"Are you crazy?!" Frank exclaimed as they continued walking. "Why would you say something like that, especially when its not even true?! You can't just accelerate out of every situation, you know?"

"Yes, that's a critical lesson that all Burst Linkers must learn," Kuroyukihime replied casually. "It's good you understand that."

"Maybe, but you shouldn't have provoked Asuna like that. She's one of the only friends I've got. And she can be pretty scary when she wants to be."

"I know, but I did it for a reason. I was suspicious of her and my provocation proved it."

Frank raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What? That doesn't make any sense. There's no way Asuna would do anything wrong."

Kuroyukihime eyed the male teen in suspicion. "Oh, are you two more than just friends?" she questioned intently.

"Of course not," Frank retorted, his face going red from embarrassment. "First, she's dating Kazuto, my _other_ friend, and we've been friends for years."

The black-haired girl backed down. "Well that's good to hear," she replied. "But Asuna has caught my attention for completely different reasons."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's a little difficult to explain but just know that its another one of the reasons I sought you out."

"Just how many reasons do you have?" Frank questioned, his face returning to its normal color.

* * *

Kuroyukihime took Frank to a café, where they took a booth and ordered some snacks and drinks. When their order came, they cable linked.

_"Here's to your first victory,"_ Kuroyukihime said. _"At this rate, you'll reach level 2 in no time."_

_"If you say so,"_ Frank replied. _"But I'm still nowhere close with figuring out my past. I guess it can't really be rushed."_

_"It won't be easy, that's for sure,"_ Kuroyukihime replied. _"May I ask how many powers you can access right now?"_

Frank paused for a bit before answering. _"Let's see, at the moment I can access the Marth avatar you've seen at school, my Duel Avatar, and most of the one-handed sword skills, along with a few dual-wielding sword skills. I also have lightning powers too."_

_"Lightning, really?"_ Kuroyukihime questioned with interest. _"What color is it?"_

_"Purple, why?"_

_"No reason. That just sounded familiar to something I read a few years ago."_ Kuroyukihime then took a sip from her drink. _"Anyway, back to_ Brain Burst _. Out of the estimated 1,000 Burst Linkers, only a handful have reached level 4. And if you happen to meet a player that's level 7 or 8, then they're probably a Legion Leader."_

_"A Legion Leader? What's that?"_

_"Legions are sort of like teams or guilds you see in other online games,"_ Kuroyukihime explained as she showed a map of the Accelerated World that had territories of various colors. _"Currently the Accelerated World has six major legions ruling over a number of different zones. All these legions are led by Burst Linkers who have reached level 9. Each has their own color: red, blue, yellow, green, purple, and white. They're known as the Six Kings of Pure Colors."_

_"Wow, that's pretty neat,"_ Frank said in awe. _"So only six people have reached the highest level?"_

_"Not exactly. I never said level 9 is the highest level."_

It didn't take a genius to figure out what she was implying. _"Okay, then how many people have reached level 10?"_ Frank asked.

_"Brain Burst 2039 is something people have been playing for ten years now,"_ the Black Lotus player explained. _"Ever since the program was anonymously released. But due to the harsh rules of the game, no one has ever reached level 10 yet."_

Frank was surprised by that. _"Why is that?"_

_"You only need five wins to reach level 10, but those wins must be against other level 9 players. And if you lose just one of those fights, you lose all of your points and then the program automatically uninstalls itself."_

_"Sheesh. That's harsh. Not only do you have to win five matches against the strongest players in the game, but you can't lose even once."_

_"Indeed,"_ Kuroyukihime said. _"This program has remained a secret for over ten years and that's because of its very demanding requirements. One of the biggest ones is that the Burst Link player must have worn a Neuro Linker since birth. The Neurolinker is still a fairly new technology, with the first models releasing nineteen years ago. That means there aren't any adults who have played_ Brain Burst _. Every Burst Linker is a kid and we try to keep that privilege to ourselves. And once the program uninstalls, it leaves no trace behind. Whatever you say about it will be dismissed as nonsense."_

_"Damn. But wait, my earliest memories go back to ten years ago and I didn't have a Neuro Linker then. So how the hell did I manage to get_ Brain Burst _?"_

_"That is a very good question,"_ Kuroyukihime mused. _"It was a very big gamble on my part, but I think the reason the download worked is because of that crystal you keep hidden under your shirt. I can tell that it's special, just like the charm on my bracelet."_

Frank looked at the black-haired girl's bracelet and saw the purple sword charm on it. He felt something was familiar about the charm, but he didn't know why. _"Where did you get that, anyway?"_

_"I found it the day after you saved me at the museum. There's something unique about this charm and I want to know what it is, but that's a story for another time. Anyway, two years ago, all the young kings reached level 9 at around the same time. They soon received a system message telling them the horrible rules to reach level 10. You'd think there would be a bloody power struggle, but instead the kings chose to remain at level 9 indefinitely. They called a truce and divided the Accelerated World into realms that each of them would rule. The whole thing's a farce. They fought so much to reach level 9 and they chose to call a truce. Why?"_

Frank was puzzled as well. _"Yeah, that is weird. So is that why you recruited me? You want to challenge the Six Kings of Pure Color?"_

Kuroyukihime shook her head. _"No, I already did that. It wasn't always six kings, there used to be seven kings. And despite essentially being rivals, there was also a strong bond between them. But that changed two years ago. One night, the Black King betrayed the others and tried to hunt them all down."_

The Black Wolf player's eyes widened in shock. _"For real? Who is this 'Black King'?"_

_"Me, otherwise known as Black Lotus,"_ Kuroyukihime replied. _"I was the only one who rejected the truce and argued that we should risk it all and fight till the end. But they overruled my idea. And when they did, I beheaded the Red King, the person closest to me who was calling for peace. His_ Brain Burst _program was then uninstalled, which caused his girlfriend, the Purple King, to scream in anguish. The Blue King became enraged. I fought in a furious frenzy but in the end, I was unable to defeat anyone else. After thirty minutes had passed, I linked out and ever since that day, I've been on the run, hiding. I've been branded the greatest traitor in the Accelerated World. As a result, there is an enormous bounty on my head. A fitting end for a coward like me."_

Frank was shocked at what he heard. _"You really are reckless,"_ he said. _"Why would you do something like that?"_

_"Because the only thing I cared about was reaching level 10,"_ Kuroyukihime explained. _"According to the system message we received when we made level 9, any player who managed to reach level 10 would have a chance to meet the creators of_ Brain Burst _. And if that happened, you could find out the truth behind the game and its purpose."_ She then rested her chin on her hands. _"I'm still desperate for that answer. We each accelerate and fight for various reasons. Sometimes it's for money, sometimes it's success, sometimes its fame. But is that all there is? It can't be. There has to be more."_

Kuroyukihime looked out the window and watched as several birds flew by. _"There must be something out there, something that we mortals can't understand,"_ she continued, with a brief look of sorrow that her companion noticed. _"I want to find out what it is so badly."_

The Black Wolf player couldn't help but feel sympathetic to her. _"I know the feeling,"_ he spoke up as he stared at his right palm. _"I know that I'm different than everyone else. I can feel it deep inside my soul. But I don't know why I feel this way. Kazuto and Asuna try to help me out, but we still haven't found anything over the last eight years. Why am I so different? What are the secrets of my past?"_ He and Kuroyukihime then locked eyes with each other. _"Hime, you've given me the first lead I've ever gotten to answering those questions. I don't know if playing Brain Burst will help my lost memories return, but it's better than nothing. Hime, we may not share a common goal, but we're a team now. We need each other to succeed, for you to reach level 10 and for me to regain my memories. We're way past the point of no return."_

Kuroyukihime looked shocked before she formed a light smile. _"Thank you, Frank,"_ she replied as she took the male teen's hand into her own. _"I'm so happy my instincts were right about you. We are a team and that will never change."_

Frank found his face heating up from the contact. _"Y-yeah, well… let's get back to the topic at hand."_

_"Very well,"_ Kuroyukihime said as she let go of Frank's hand. _"As I said, I've managed to survive these past two years, but it hasn't been by accepting challengers and winning fights. I'm only around because I haven't made a single connection to the global net."_

Frank couldn't help but reel back in his seat. _"Wow, really? That's kinda impressive."_

_"That's one way to put it. But due to my social status, I can't stay completely offline. There's one network I must connect to on a daily basis."_

_"What, are you royalty or something?"_ Frank teased. _"Just kidding. You're talking about the school's local network, right? Are you saying that network's not safe?"_

_"It would seem it isn't,"_ Kuroyukihime answered in a serious tone. _"Two months ago, someone used the school's local net to challenge me to a duel. That means whoever it was, attends our school."_

Frank's eyes widened in shock. _"Are you serious? But our names were the only ones listed when we accelerated at school. How did they manage to hide from us?"_

_"I don't know, but one of Brain Burst's functions is the ability to switch to a dummy avatar to spectate fights. This allows you to hide your real identity. However, when I was attacked, I had my dummy avatar set as the exact same one I use for the school's local network."_

Frank gritted his teeth. _"That's not good. That means whoever attacked you knows your true identity as Black Lotus."_

_"Exactly,"_ Kuroyukihime replied. _"Revealing your true identity is the ultimate taboo for a Burst Linker. I was careless to think I wouldn't be challenged while inside the school. I am now constantly on-guard for any attack in the real world."_

_"So you can be attacked in the real world too?"_

_"Yes, but no one has tried attacking me there yet. That isn't the case for the local school net. For the past two months, this person has challenged me ten times. Now that they know my real identity, they're probably after my Burst Points."_

_"So why don't you defeat them using your Duel Avatar?"_ Frank questioned. _"I doubt they'd stand a chance against the Black King."_

Kuroyukihime cracked a light smile. _"I appreciate the flattery, but unfortunately it's not that simple,"_ she said. _"If I do defeat them, then they'll probably sell my identity to one of the kings and that would be really bad."_

Frank folded his arms as he took in the information. _"Yeah, so what can you do?"_

_"If you've been exposed, then there's only one option. You need to find out your opponent's true identity."_

_"That makes sense. Then they'll have no choice but to leave you alone. But how can you do it? Like I mentioned earlier, our names were the only ones that appeared on the matching list at school."_

_"That's the tricky part,"_ Kuroyukihime explained. _"Right when the attacks started, I accelerated while everyone was at a school assembly, since students are required to stay in the building during school hours, but my name was the only that appeared. Whoever this is, they clearly know how to hide themselves from challengers, especially from me."_

_"Is that even possible? I tried looking into Brain Burst's data earlier today and I couldn't get past the encryption. If this person can block challenges, then they must be an excellent hacker."_

_"That or they know the game's creators,"_ Kuroyukihime added. _"The latter of which I highly doubt. Anyway, part of why I recruited is so you can help me identify this person. Their avatar's name is Cyan Demon, however I couldn't find out their level for some strange reason. But judging by their color, they must be skilled in close-range combat."_

_"Hold on, you don't know their level?"_ Frank questioned. _"How is that possible?"_

_"I don't know. But from what I gathered, this person seems desperate because they might be low on Burst Points."_

_"Okay, anything else I should know?"_

_"Yes, don't forget about the Guide Cursor,"_ the Black Lotus player said. _"It'll point to your enemy's position immediately when a fight starts. Since all the stages in Brain Burst are based off reality, the Guide Cursor can be used to track Cyan Demon down in the real world. After the attacks started, I made a list of all the students who were in my vicinity at the time, then I used that list to select the most likely suspect. The next time I am attacked, Frank, I need you to be there and to use the auto-view to observe the fight. That way you can record Cyan Demon's cursor."_

Frank nodded in acknowledgement. _"I get it,"_ the Black Wolf player replied. _"If we have two points of reference, we can track down Cyan Demon's position in the real world and find out their identity. So who do you think it is?"_

Kuroyukihime hesitated for a moment before sending Frank a file. _"Last week, I made this file on that person. You won't like it, but this is who I think is Cyan Demon."_

Frank found himself feeling nervous before opening the file. He let out a gasp as he saw that it was about Asuna. _"What?"_ he said in disbelief. _"That's impossible! Asuna can't be a Burst Linker!"_

_"I know this is hard for you to believe, Frank, but it makes sense,"_ Kuroyukihime replied. _"Just look at how hostile she was to me back at school."_

Frank took a sip from his soda and leaned back in his booth. _"There's a reason for that,"_ he said matter-of-factly. _"Asuna's always been protective of me. After everything you did for the past two days, how could she not get concerned about me?"_

Kuroyukihime paused for a moment. _"That is a good point. But look at this from another angle. Maybe she wanted to recruit you for herself, but then I came along and snatched you up for my own purposes. That could've made her mad enough to confront me in the real world. It's plausible, don't you think?"_

Frank took another sip from his soda and leaned on the table. _"Maybe, but she's still not Cyan Demon."_

_"But I…"_

Frank raised his hand to stop her. _"Let me finish,"_ Frank continued. _"Don't get the wrong idea, I do see the logic in your reasoning. Unfortunately, there are a few contradictions to it. First, there's Cyan Demon's name. While blue is debatable for a color I'd associate with Asuna, 'demon' isn't. Then there's the tactics they used. You said they were recklessly challenging you because they were low on Burst Points. That doesn't sound like Asuna at all. She always keeps a level head, especially when under pressure. If she really is Cyan Demon, then I'll have to find this out myself."_

Kuroyukihime raised an eyebrow in suspicion. _"Really? You know you can't ask her about this directly, right?"_

Frank gave a brief nod. _"Obviously, but if we cable-linked, then I'd be able to check her memory for the program."_

_"That's true,"_ Kuroyukihime admitted. _"Do you think you can pull it off?"_

_"I should. I've known Asuna for years now, this wouldn't be anything new."_

Kuroyukihime looked genuinely surprised. _"What?! What do you mean by that?!"_

Frank simply smirked, deciding to have some payback for yesterday. _"You'll just have to wait until tomorrow,"_ he said smugly.

_"Seriously?!"_ Kuroyukihime pouted.

* * *

**Later that evening**

Frank was heading for his apartment and found his thoughts focused on Kuroyukihime. _"Why am I even thinking of her?"_ Frank thought. He then found the image of a purple-haired girl lying limply on a table, causing him to slap his cheeks to clear his head. _"Why does seeing that girl always fill me with dread? Just who is she?"_

His thoughts came to a halt when Frank bumped into Kazuto, who was standing by the sidewalk.

"Sorry, Kazuto," Frank said quickly. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

His best friend waved his hand dismissively. "It's okay," Kazuto greeted. "You heading home?"

"Yeah, I was out later than I thought I would be," Frank replied. "What about you?"

"Same, how about we walk together?"

Frank then cracked a light smile. "I'm down with that."

The two teens began heading for home together.

"I heard what happened at school," Kazuto spoke up. "Are you really dating Kuroyukihime?"

Frank let out a groan. "Let me guess, Asuna told you about that."

Kazuto nodded in confirmation. "Yep. I was pretty surprised when she did. I never thought Kuroyukihime was your type. So are you two really going out?"

Frank grunted hesitantly, wondering if Kuroyukihime would be mad if he told Kazuto the truth or not. "Kuroyukihime was just trying to get a rise out of Asuna," Frank replied. "Speaking of Asuna, do you think that she'd resort to bad things if she wanted something really bad?"

Kazuto raised an eyebrow curiously. "What do you think?"

"Of course she wouldn't. It's not like her."

Kazuto formed a warm smile. "Then you've got your answer."

Frank returned the gesture. "Yeah. Sorry I asked. Forget I brought it up."

"It's okay. That's what friends are for." Kazuto stopped walking and looked out towards the city park, prompting Frank to do the same. "It's been how long since we first met, about ten years or so."

"Yeah," Frank agreed. "This might sound wrong, but I'm kinda glad both you and Asuna have amnesia too. It just makes things easier for me."

Kazuto let out a chuckle. "That's one way to look at it. It's kind of weird how the three of us can't remember any memories from before we were eight."

"Tell me about it. There's no way it's a coincidence. There has to be a reason behind it."

"You said it," Kazuto said as the duo resumed walking. "So are you gonna talk with Asuna at all?"

"Yeah, I hate making her worry. I need to put this to rest. Do you mind if I cable link with her?"

Kazuto placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "No prob. That's probably the best way for Asuna to know that you're being sincere. Go right ahead."

"Thanks Kazuto."

* * *

Frank was standing outside of Asuna's apartment and knocked on the door. He waited for a few moments before Asuna opened it.

"Hey Asuna," Frank said casually.

"Hey," Asuna replied. "Are you here to explain what's going on between you and Kuroyukihime?"

"Yeah, and to apologize. Do you mind if we do it via cable cord?"

A slight blush appeared on Asuna's face, but she nodded and let the male teen in. Her apartment was just as big as Frank's (which isn't much) and her parents hadn't gotten home yet.

"There's a cable cord in my room," Asuna said as she led her friend to her bedroom. "But I have to warn you, it's really short."

Frank immediately found himself having second thoughts. "Uh, how short?"

"Like barely thirty centimeters long."

Frank slouched in exasperation. "Oh, great. Do you use it with Kazuto?"

"No. Kirito brings his own cable and it's a meter long," Asuna answered as they entered the bedroom. She then opened one of the drawers in her make-up station and brought out the cable cord, which was just as short as she said it was before tossing it to Frank.

_"Maybe this wasn't a good idea,"_ Frank thought to himself.

Asuna then got on her bed and laid down on her back. "Standing there's not gonna do you a lot of good," she said.

Frank couldn't help but reel back in shock. "Are you sure you don't wanna do this on a chair or something?" he asked nervously.

"If you wanted to do that, you should've brought your own cable."

The black-haired teen let out a groan. "Ouch. I guess I deserved that." Frank inserted one end of the cable cord to his Neuro Linker before getting on top of Asuna and inserting the other end into her Neuro Linker. Both teens looked uncomfortable with their faces so close together.

_"Please don't tell Kazuto about this,"_ Frank said quickly. _"He'll never let me hear the end of it."_

Asuna giggled. _"I won't, but only if you explain to me what's going on between you and Kuroyukihime. Ever since yesterday, you've been very distant with me and Kirito."_

_"I'm really sorry about that,"_ Frank said as he secretly began looking for the Brain Burst file in Asuna's Neuro Linker. _"I know I made you really worried about me. You see, Kuroyukihime knows about my amnesia and wants to help me regain my memories."_

Asuna's eyes widened in disbelief. _"Really? Does she know about me and Kirito's amnesia too?"_

_"I don't think so. And the reason why I've been so distant is because I'm checking out a lead that Kuroyukihime gave me. I don't know if it will mean anything, but I don't want to put you or Kazuto at risk for my own sake."_

Asuna placed her hand on Frank's cheek, causing the latter to blush from the contact. _"You're the same as always,"_ she answered. _"When are you gonna learn that you don't have to tackle things alone? Remember what we talked about yesterday? We're a team. Just because you're hanging out with Kuroyukihime, that doesn't change things, even if she can solve your problems in a single day."_

_"It's not that simple,"_ Frank replied. _"She's the Student Vice-President. It's not exactly easy to refuse a request from her."_

_"But that doesn't mean you should let her make you her pet,"_ Asuna argued. _"All she does is order you around like a dog."_

_"It's not like that,"_ Frank said calmly, trying to be careful with his wording. _"It's more like… we formed an alliance."_

_"An alliance? What have you gotten yourself into? Please tell me it doesn't have to do with the incident back at the museum."_

Frank silently cursed at himself for making the chestnut-haired teen even more worried. _"No. Kuroyukihime and I just need each other for our own goals. Once they're achieved, things will go back to normal. I promise."_

Asuna then surprised him by pulling him into a hug. _"Okay. I'll hold you to that. I don't care if she's the Student Vice-President, make sure she doesn't take advantage of you. If she does, then she'll have me to reckon with."_

_"Okay,"_ Frank answered. He had finished looking through Asuna's Neuro Linker and didn't see anything suspicious. _"It looks like Asuna doesn't have Brain Burst after all,"_ Frank thought privately, making sure Asuna couldn't hear him. _"That's a relief."_

Frank then closed out the menu and separated from Asuna before they both removed the cable cord.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Asuna offered. "I'm sure my parents won't mind."

"I appreciate the offer, but I need to get home," Frank replied. "My parents are probably worried sick about me by now. Maybe another time."

"Okay."

The duo then headed for the apartment door where they said their goodbyes. Frank then headed for his apartment when suddenly he felt a cold sensation run down his neck, a danger signal. Everything went dark as time seemed to stop. Frank found himself as Black Wolf and turned around and narrowly avoided getting impaled by a large metal spike. Black Wolf then drew his swords as the spike retracted into a strange blue device that was worn by a being with blue knight armor.

"Who are you?!" Black Wolf demanded.

"I believe you already know the answer," the man answered with an inhuman tone. "I'm the one you're looking for."

The dual-wielder let out a gasp. "You're Cyan Demon!" he realized.

"Correct," Cyan Demon replied. "I'm just here to give you a warning. Stay away from Black Lotus and I will not harm you. My comrades and I need her to draw out the Dark Swordsman from hiding so our master can have his revenge on him."

_"That's just like what happened back at the museum,"_ Black Wolf thought. _"This guy must be a monster who's harnessed the power of Brain Burst. But why do they need Kuroyukihime to lure out the Dark Swordsman? There's no way they would know each other."_

"I will only warn you once," Cyan Demon continued. "Stay away from Black Lotus or you will die." Cyan Demon then disappeared, prompting the lights to turn back on as if nothing had even happened.

Black Wolf then reverted back to Frank. "This isn't good," Frank said in fear. "We were wrong. He's not after Kuroyukihime's Burst Points, he's after her. But why? What connection does she have with the Dark Swordsman? This doesn't make any sense."

**To be continued**


	4. Kuroyukihime's Feelings

**That night**

Frank was having another nightmare. This time he, as Marth, was standing before two men wearing white and red armor and were wielding a sword and a shield with a red cross. The first man had silver hair while the second one had black hair. Marth was wearing the same outfit he was in when he saved Kuroyukihime, minus the silver crystal, and was wielding Lunara and a dark blue longsword with an aqua-blue hilt. The second longsword also had a sapphire embedded in its hilt. Somehow Marth knew that the sword was called Light Repulser.

Standing beside Marth was none other than Kirito, who was in the exact same outfit and was wielding a black sword and a light blue sword, which were called Elucidator and Dark Repulser. Asuna, the purple-haired girl, along with a dozen or so players were all lying on the ground.

_"This isn't just an in-game duel,"_ Marth found himself thinking as he tightened his grip on his swords. _"It's a fight to the death. That's fine with me, because I'm gonna kill you, Brandon!"_

Marth charged at the black-haired man while Kirito charged at the silver-haired man. The dual-wielders swung their right swords at their opponents, who blocked with their shields. Marth and Kirito then unleashed a flurry of slashes on their opponents' shields before dodging their counterattacks and continuing their assault. None of them were giving an inch to each other as they fought with all their might.

Eventually the shield-users managed to nick the dual-wielders' cheeks with their swords, causing the duo to lose their focus for a brief moment and unleash the 27-hit dual-wielding skill, Eclipse. Marth and Kirito quickly realized their mistake when they saw their opponents' sneer, but they couldn't cancel a sword skill once it activated so they had no choice but to go with it.

Despite their efforts, Marth and Kirito were unable to break through their opponents' defenses as they began their final hit.

_"I'm sorry, Yuuki,"_ Marth thought in lament. _"Please…keep living."_

The black-garbed swordsmen let out a howl as their thrusted their left swords at their opponents' shields. When the twin swords struck the shields, the tips of both swords broke off, filling both teens with shock.

"It's over Marth/Kirito," Zelgius and Heathcliff said to their respective opponent as they prepared to land the final blow on the defenseless dual-wielders.

Both Game Masters promptly activated a sword skill and brought their swords down on the dual-wielders while they were in their post-motion delay. Suddenly, the purple-haired girl and Asuna got in front of the respective teen, shielding them with their own bodies. Marth and Kirito quickly dropped their swords, with their secondary ones shattering before hitting the ground, and caught the respective girl in their arms.

The Darkness Duo watched helplessly as both Yuuki and Asuna's HP were reduced to zero.

"Asuna. No… you can't," Kirito said as his girlfriend's body started to glow blue.

Despite everything, Asuna gave the Black Swordsman one final smile. "I'm sorry, Kirito. Goodbye," she replied before her body shattered and her rapier fell towards the ground.

The Absolute Sword's body began glowing blue as well.

"No… Yuuki," Marth said in shock.

Yuuki gave him a weak smile. "Sorry, Marth. Looks like I won't be able to see how this ends. Don't give up the fight. See you around." Her body then shattered into polygons and her sword fell to the ground.

Kirito and Marth, overcome with grief, tried in vain to grab the fragments but they quickly dispersed before either of them could reach them. They then fell to their knees and wept.

"Now that was unexpected," Zelgius commented.

Heathcliff nodded in agreement. "Indeed. I don't think we programmed a way for players to remove their own paralysis like that," he replied. "I guess things like this just happen sometimes."

Kirito grabbed his Elucidator and Asuna's Lambent Light while Marth grabbed his Lunara and Yuuki's Absolute Obsidian before both Beaters stood back up. The Darkness Duo were still filled with grief and swung their swords with little effort. Heathcliff and Zelgius easily dodged their weak attacks before both letting out a sigh of disappointment. The GMs easily knocked Elucidator and Lunara out of Kirito and Marth's hands respectfully and stabbed them both in the chest with their swords, which the Beaters chose not to block. They just watched as their HP slowly decreased to zero.

_"It's over. I'm sorry everyone. We failed,"_ Marth thought in grief.

Right when the Dark Swordsman's HP entered the red zone, he heard something unexpected.

"What did I tell you?!" Yuuki called out in Marth's head. "Don't give up the fight!"

The dual-wielders' HP then hit zero and the system deemed them as dead. As their bodies started to become transparent, everyone else noticed a blue aura surround the Darkness Duo. They were all stunned as the duo simply refused to die, as if their avatars were being held together by sheer willpower.

"Not yet," Kirito started as he tightened his grip on Asuna's rapier.

"We're not done yet," Marth finished as he did the same with Yuuki's sword.

Zelgius and Heathcliff took a step back in shock, their eyes filled with disbelief. With some struggle, Marth and Kirito managed to lift their secondary swords and let out a battle cry as they lunged at their opponents. Their eyes (irises to be exact) became yellow. Zelgius and Heathcliff secretly smiled as they were each stabbed in the chest by the teens and their HP reduced to zero.

"We did it," Kirito said in relief, staring at Asuna's rapier as he and his partner's eyes went back to their normal colors (black and brown respectively).

"We won," Marth followed before admiring the purple-haired girl's sword. _"Thank you, Yuuki."_

All four of their bodies shattered into blue polygons at once and their fragments dispersed into the air.

Frank then woke with a start. He was covered in sweat and panting like a dog.

"Not another one," Frank muttered as he held his head. "That felt way too real to be a dream. Could that have been… one of my memories?" He then found himself thinking of the purple-haired girl. "Yuuki," he said slowly, the name sounding familiar. "So that's her name. Why do I always feel sad when I think about her?"

* * *

**The Next Day**

Frank was walking to school with his hands in his pockets. He looked exhausted.

_"These dreams are getting even more intense by the day,"_ Frank thought to himself. _"Are they really my memories?"_

Frank was brought out of his thoughts when he felt someone pat him on the back and say, "Good morning, young man."

"Gah!" Frank yelped as he jumped away before turning around, revealing the source to be none other than Kuroyukihime, who looked amused.

"Interesting," she mused. "Is this how you always greet people?"

Frank let out a deep breath. "No, I've just been on edge. I had another nightmare last night."

Kuroyukihime raised an eyebrow curiously. "Oh, what was it about?" she asked sincerely.

The male teen looked away. "Don't worry about it," he answered. "It's nothing I can't handle."

"I see," Kuroyukihime said slowly as she tightened her grip on her school bag. She then looked away in shame. "Um, about yesterday. I want to apologize. I behaved immaturely."

Frank was taken aback by the vice-president's statement. "No, I should be the one apologizing. I should've made sure you got home safely before leaving."

Kuroyukihime let out a giggle as they began walking to school. "It's okay. I do know how to handle myself. Besides, I can't really blame you. I did accuse one of your closest friends then I tasked you with a challenge that is surely impossible. To get her to cable link with you."

"Uh, actually I got her to do it," Frank admitted.

Kuroyukihime eyed the teen in confusion. "Got her to do what?"

"We cable linked," Frank answered.

Kuroyukihime froze in her tracks as she found herself filled with an unknown emotion. She then resumed walking, though at a faster pace.

"Where was this?" the Black Lotus player questioned fiercely.

Frank was surprised by her tone but said, "At her place."

"In which _room_?"

"Uh, in her bedroom…"

Kuroyukihime's pace increased, prompting Frank to move faster just to keep up with her. "And how long was this cable?" she asked, her tone not changing.

"Um, thirty centimeters, why?"

Kuroyukihime didn't answer as she practically stormed into school, leaving Frank behind at the high school's gate.

"What's gotten into her?" Frank questioned. He then realized he didn't tell Kuroyukihime about Cyan Demon's true identity. "Damn it. I'll have to wait until lunch to tell her. She needs to know that she's in more danger than she thinks."

* * *

After failing to find Kuroyukihime at lunch, Frank began wandering the halls.

_"I still don't get why she stormed off like that,"_ Frank thought. _"Or why she seems to be avoiding me. I really need to tell her what I found out."_

Frank then found a microphone in front of his face, prompting him to come to a stop as he found two girls from the school's newspaper in front of him.

"Hi, you're Frank Storm from Class 1-C, correct?" the first girl asked.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions for the Gossip Column for the school paper," the second girl added.

Frank let out a groan. "If this is about my abilities or Araya, I'll pass," he said in annoyance as he turned away from them. "I've got enough attention as is. I don't need any more."

"Actually, this is about you and the Student Vice-President," the first girl said. "Are the rumors true? Are you really dating Kuroyukihime?"

Frank let out a gasp as he turned towards the girls. "That's a total lie!" he answered. "What would she want with me? I'm the school's freak kid, remember?"

"But according to our sources, you cable linked with her two times in the student lounge," the first girl pressed. "And then one more time at a nearby coffee shop."

The Black Wolf player reeled back in shock. "Haven't you guys heard of privacy?!" he exclaimed.

"Does that mean you _are_ dating Kuroyukihime?" the second girl questioned, causing Frank's face to become beet-red.

"No I'm not!" Frank practically shouted. "I was… helping her fix her Neuro Linker, that's all. She took me to that coffee shop to say thank you."

The looks from both girls easily said that they didn't believe him.

"I mean, you can tell by the way she acts when we're together," Frank continued. "By the end of all our conversations, she's always in a bad mood."

"Really?" the first girl asked in suspicion.

"Yeah, in fact just earlier today she stormed off when I told her I hung out with Asuna. Hell, she always gets like that whenever I bring up Asuna."

"Asuna Yuuki, the girl that's been your friend since middle school," the second girl said inquisitively. "Didn't she and Kuroyukihime get into an argument at the school gate yesterday?"

Frank let out a groan in annoyance. "Are we done here?"

"Not quite," the second girl continued. "We thought this whole thing was bogus, but now I'm not so sure. Hey Frank, I think you're wrong about Kuroyukihime. She might like you for real."

The black-haired teen reeled back in surprise. "What?!"

"Think about it," the first girl took over. "She gets mad whenever you mention another girl's name. The only reason for that…"

"Is because she's jealous!" the two reporters said in sync.

* * *

Frank was on the school roof, thinking about what the reporter girls had told him. _"Are they right?"_ he asked himself. _"Does Kuroyukihime really have feelings for me?"_ Frank slammed his fist into the wall, not bothering to hold back, causing a small dent to be made. _"You've gotten everything you could ask for, looks, grades, popularity, so why would you pick someone like me? I don't even know what I am, whether I'm human or something else entirely. Why…why would you ever risk choosing someone like me to fall for?"_ Deep down, Frank knew that he felt some romantic feelings for the Student Vice-President, despite only knowing her for a short amount of time, but something kept holding him back and denying them.

_"Just what am I going to do?"_

**Later- after school**

Frank was heading for the school gate where he saw none other than Kuroyukihime standing there. She was clearly waiting for him. Frank suppressed any urges he felt before walking over to her.

"Hey," Kuroyukihime greeted with a kind smile. "Mind if we chat while we walk?"

"Sure," Frank said slowly before they headed off.

"Listen, I want to apologize for this morning," Kuroyukihime said remorsefully as they walked. "I don't know what came over me."

"It's fine. By the way, I found something about Cyan Demon."

Kuroyukihime immediately perked up. "Really? Then let's continue this conversation via cable link," she said eagerly. "We don't want anyone eavesdropping on us." Kuroyukihime reached into her bag and pulled out a cable cord, only it was a different one.

"Oh, I had to replace my previous cable," Kuroyukihime said nervously. "It just suddenly stopped working. All they had was this short one."

"Uh huh," Frank said, clearly not believing her before accepting one end of the cable and inserted it into his Neuro Linker. "Whatever."

Kuroyukihime then inserted the cable into her Neuro Linker before they continued walking.

_"Asuna's not Cyan Demon. Someone else is,"_ Frank said. _"And I've got a question. How likely is it to hack into Brain Burst?"_

_"Nearly impossible,"_ Kuroyukihime answered. _"Throughout the time Brain Burst has been around, no one has been able to crack its code. Why?"_

_"You were wrong about Cyan Demon. They're not after your Burst Points, they're after you. Cyan Demon is a monster from the Demon War."_

Kuroyukihime gasped in shock. _"What?! Are you sure? Wait, how do you know?"_

_"Because he decided to pay me a little visit after I left Asuna's place,"_ Frank answered. _"Don't worry, he wasn't there to fight me. He just wanted to scare me. It didn't work."_

_"But then how was he able to challenge me at the school?"_ Kuroyukihime questioned. _"Better question, how does he even_ have _Brain Burst?"_

_"For your first question, I read that there were some monsters were able to take on human form to infiltrate Tokyo during the Demon War,"_ Frank replied. _"He must be using that to infiltrate the school. But then there's the question of why he didn't just abduct you there? Why go through this much trouble just to challenge you to a duel?"_

_"I don't know, but it makes me feel uneasy,"_ Kuroyukihime said. _"And what about my second question?"_

_"I honestly have no clue. I don't know how a monster could obtain the Brain Burst program. But something about this feels off, like we're missing something."_

Kuroyukihime could hear the tension in Frank's voice. _"Are you okay?"_ she asked in concern as they walked across an elevated sidewalk to cross the street. _"You're acting kind of strange."_

_"I'm fine,"_ Frank passed off. _"Don't worry about it."_

_"Did something happen at school today?"_ Kuroyukihime questioned.

_"I said don't worry about it. We need to talk about what's important. If Cyan Demon is out there, then who knows how many more monsters that are still around."_

_"But I thought all the monsters disappeared after the Demon War, however there is the museum incident to consider. And how they could infiltrate Brain Burst, an unhackable program?"_

_"Well, I heard the leader of the monster army could summon monsters from the virtual world, maybe it works like a backdoor?"_

Kuroyukihime nodded in acknowledgement. _"That could be possible, except everyone knows that the leader of the monsters, Zarc, disappeared into the ocean after the Dark Swordsman's final attack on him. There's no way he could've survived that."_

_"So do you think I made this up just to protect my friend?"_ Frank accused bitterly as they walked past some stores.

_"That's not what I meant,"_ Kuroyukihime replied, surprised by the male teen's tone.

_"Well if you don't believe me, then it's not about the evidence anymore,"_ Frank continued. _"It's up to you whether you trust me or not."_

_"Is that how you truly feel?!"_ Kuroyukihime replied in irritation as they came to a stop.

Frank turned to face the Student Vice-President. _"Just do what you want. I'm your wild card, remember? Once you've got no need for me, we can just go our separate ways and pretend this never happened."_

Kuroyukihime's balled her fists before placing her hand on Frank's shoulder. _"Why would you say that?!"_ she exclaimed in disbelief. _"You're mad at me, aren't you? Listen, the way I behaved is wrong and I admit that. I'm sorry. It's just…"_ Kuroyukihime's face looked conflicted. _"There are times when… when I can't control my emotions. And it seems, especially when it comes to you and Asuna, I just… what I'm trying to say is…"_

_"That's enough,"_ Frank said suddenly. _"This is sad to watch."_

_"What are you talking about?! What's gotten into you, Frank?"_

_"Let me guess, you hate yourself, don't you?"_ Frank said, causing Kuroyukihime to gasp in shock as her eyes widened. _"You're one of those girls who are perfect at everything and you hate yourself for it. Why else would you associate with someone like me, an amnesiac freak. After Cyan Demon is taken care of, you'd be better off without me."_

Kuroyukihime tightened her grip on her bag in frustration. She then slapped Frank hard in the face. "You idiot!" Kuroyukihime shouted as tears leaked from her eyes, catching the attention of pedestrians. "How could you be so incredibly stupid?!"

Suddenly Frank felt his Hypersense activate, which was the cold sensation he felt on the night before. He and Kuroyukihime then heard the sounds of a car heading towards them at high speed.

"Burst Link!" the duo shouted instinctively a few moments before the car would've hit them, causing them to enter the Accelerated World.

Marth and Kuroyukihime then found themselves in their avatars.

"That was way too close," Marth said. "If we were just a second too late, we'd be dead. Wait, we just accelerated time, not stopped it. At some point we'll have to Burst Out." The Spriggan hurried towards the car to get a closer look. "They say that AI cars are full-proof. There's no way you can get into an accident with these." Marth took a look at the driver and gasped. "Araya?! What's he doing here?!"

"I know why," Kuroyukihime answered, prompting the Spriggan to face her. "He wants revenge. This is all my fault. I should've been more cautious and seen this coming. If you're dead-set on attacking somebody, you don't need acceleration powers, as you can clearly see. A knife or a car will do just fine. I suppose this is my punishment for messing with the lives of others without ever caring for how it would affect them."

Marth then went over to his guardian and took her hand into his own, surprising her. "Don't blame yourself," the dual-wielder said sincerely. "Araya would've gone after me anyway."

Kuroyukihime couldn't help but smile. "That's sweet of you to say, Frank, but I am responsible for this," she confessed. "I won't let you get hurt because of my actions. I'll protect you at all costs."

"But I'm the one who has powers!" Marth argued. "Shouldn't I be the one protecting you?"

"I don't care," Kuroyukihime replied. "This is my fault, so I have to do this. There's an aspect of Brain Burst that I didn't tell you about. The ultimate and final acceleration power."

"No! Whatever it is, you don't need to use it! I can stop this with my powers. That's why you recruited me!"

"Except you don't even know what you're fully capable of, Frank. And if you use your powers here, you'll expose yourself to the whole world. I won't allow you to put yourself in that kind of risk."

"Then I'll just use that ultimate acceleration power. Tell me what it is."

Kuroyukihime just shook her head. "You can't use it. The only ones who are capable of using this power are the players who have reached level 9 and you lose 99 percent of your points when you use it. But regardless of that, I'm your guardian. I have to protect you."

"But…" Marth stopped himself as his eyes began to water as he found himself feeling powerless.

The Black King wiped her protégé's eyes with her gloved hand. "There's no need to cry," Kuroyukihime said with a light smile. "At there's one positive thing that can come from this. In a dire situation like this, I think you might believe my final words, or at least I hope so. Frank, please know that I love you."

Marth was understandably taken aback. "What?"

"I've never felt this way about anyone, and it's been very confusing for me. I've constantly been thinking about you and it makes me both happy and sad. I guess that's what being in love does to you."

"But why me? I'm just freak."

"I never once thought of you as a freak," Kuroyukihime answered honestly. "I remember watching you in a kendo match three years ago and your fighting style blew me away. It reminded me of when you saved me back at the museum eight years ago. And then I saw you playing Boss Rush, the strength and speed you possess rivals that of even the Six Kings of Pure Color. I actually have a confession to make, in order for me to reach level 80 in that game, I had to accelerate. I wanted to impress you so I could persuade you more easily.

"I've been a Burst Linker for eight years now, and in my quest for speed and power, I slaughtered countless other players, and along the way, a few of my friends. But even someone like me struggled to surpass your high score. If I may be so bold, I'd say you were as strong as the legendary Dark Swordsman from thirty years ago. I've always looked up to him and the Black Swordsman and based my fighting style on them. I know that if anyone can defeat the Six Kings and make it to level 10, it's you. But despite all that strength you possess, you close yourself off in the real world, save for a few people. The very thought of it hurt my heart so much it nearly tore me apart. I know that you'll recover your memories and regain your full power. When that happens, no one will be able to stop you, not even the Six Kings. But I also want to hold and protect you. All these contradictory feelings welled up inside me and I fell for you, but I only realized this yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Marth questioned.

"When you told me about cable linking with Asuna, for the first time in my life, I was jealous of someone," Kuroyukihime explained. "I wish I realized this sooner, but I've been afforded this moment. The chance to declare my love for you." Tears began leaking from her eyes. "I hoped that I'd be able to tell you in the real world but now my time is up."

Marth then found himself seeing a vision of him standing before Yuuki's dead body, with him overcome by grief and despair.

"No! Don't do this!" Marth said desperately. "Ple…"

Marth was interrupted when Kuroyukihime kissed him right on the lips, rendering him speechless.

"Work hard," she said after leaning away. "Get stronger and faster. Climb all the way to the top and see the world from there in my place."

"No! Please don't leave! I can't…" Marth stopped himself as tears streamed from his eyes, prompting Kuroyukihime to wipe them away with her hand.

"It's okay," Kuroyukihime said softly. "I'm sure we'll meet again someday."

Kuroyukihime then approached her real body image, ignoring Marth's protests. "Physical Full Burst!" she exclaimed. The Black King's dummy avatar began glowing with blue light, prompting Marth to shield his eyes. When the light died down, Kuroyukihime was gone, however the image of her real body began glowing golden and it began to slowly move towards Frank's body.

"No way," Marth said in disbelief. "Hime's body is moving!"

"There's a theory that one's heartbeat is the base clock for human thought process," Kuroyukihime explained as she slowly reached out to Frank's body. "Why does time slow down to a crawl for someone like a race car driver? Or how can a minute feel like an eternity for two lovers while in each other's arms? It's because when the human heart rate increases, so does our ability to process data. Brain Burst uses this theory by accessing the Neuro Linker and speeding up your heart rate, the base clock, a thousand times, and in return it accelerates your thought process. Accessing this power within your own body is called 'Physical Full Burst'."

Kuroyukihime managed to grab onto Frank's body and began to push him out of the way. "Frank, whenever I'm with you, my heart is always racing nonstop," she continued. "Even without the assistance of a Neuro Linker or Brain Burst, I constantly felt like I was accelerating around you. That's why I can die with a smile, because in a short time, you have given me an eternity."

"No!" Marth shouted as Kuroyukihime managed to force his body away from the car.

Frank then found himself lying on the ground in the real world, his coat partially scratched and his arms and legs stinging from the impact. He heard a loud crash fill the air.

"Are you okay, kid?" a man asked in concern.

Frank slowly sat up and saw Kuroyukihime's end of the cable cord right next to him. He turned around and saw the Black Lotus player lying limply on the sidewalk in a pool of blood. Seeing her in that state triggered a memory locked deep within his subconscious.

**Flashback**

Marth and Asuna (in her Undine avatar) were in the back of a medical tent, which had multiple bodies covered in tarps. Asuna was holding his hand and was trying to comfort the shocked Spriggan.

"Where's Yuuki?" Marth asked quickly, panic etched in his tone.

Asuna gave Marth's hand a gentle squeeze. "I'll take you to her. Just promise that you won't blame yourself." She turned towards Kirito, who was right behind her, and gave him a nod.

Kirito nodded in response before leading the duo to another table with a tarp covering a body. The Black Swordsman lifted the tarp, revealing Yuuki's body lying down on the table with her sword (which was a purple longsword) right next to her.

"No," Marth said in shock. "This can't be real. How did she die?"

"How do you think?" a girl with pink hair spoke up in irritation, causing the trio to face her. " _You_ killed her! Yuuki's dead because of you!"

Marth's eyes widened in disbelief. "No. That can't be true." He faced Kirito, who's head was lowered in shame. "Tell me it's not true."

"I'm sorry, Marth, but it's true," Kirito answered solemnly. "That last attack you did would've hit me and I couldn't move because your powers were overwhelming me. Yuuki ended up taking the blow herself to protect me. We couldn't heal her no matter how hard we tried. There's nothing we could've done."

Marth backed up as guilt and grief overwhelmed him. "No. This isn't what I wanted." He turned towards his dead girlfriend and held her cheek with his other hand. "Yuuki, I'm so sorry."

_"You will have to face a hardship greater than anything you've experienced so far,"_ a man's voice echoed in Marth's head. _"If you aren't careful, it could shatter your spirit and leave you powerless."_

"I think I know what Klaus's warning was about now," Marth spoke up. "It wasn't the Demon War or Zarc, it was losing Yuuki and Celina."

The Dark Swordsman backed into Asuna, who put her arms around him to comfort him, but he didn't seem to notice as he was too lost in grief. Marth then felt his legs go out and fell to his knees.

"Marth!" Asuna said in worry as she and Kirito knelt as well before both comforting the grieving Aegis.

"Brother!" a green-haired girl exclaimed as she hurried to the trio.

_"If you hadn't merged with that stupid Core Crystal, Celina wouldn't have died,"_ Lisbeth's voice boomed in Marth's head. _"Yuuki's dead because of you!"_

"No," Marth said as guilt and grief overwhelmed him, his voice cracking. "I never wanted this." Marth's core then lit up. "No. No. Noooo!" Marth's body then unleashed a burst of blinding silver light. When the light died down, Marth had disappeared without a trace.

**Present Day**

Panic began to take over Frank as the memory faded. _"It can't be,"_ Frank thought to himself. _"I… I'm the Dark Swordsman. I'm the one who disappeared after the Demon War."_ Frank's emotions began rising out of control but was stopped when he felt someone nudge his shoulder.

"Kid, are you okay?" a paramedic asked in concern while her co-workers loaded Kuroyukihime into an ambulance.

"Can you…can you help her?" Frank struggled to say as he tried to calm down.

"We can try. Would you like to come with us to the hospital?"

Frank simply nodded and allowed the paramedic to lead him into the ambulance. When the emergency vehicle started moving, Frank took Kuroyukihime's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Hang in there, Hime," Frank pleaded to the unconscious girl. "I can't lose anyone else."

**Meanwhile**

Kazuto and Asuna were by the park when suddenly they both felt a splitting headache. They then saw the same flashback that Frank had seen.

"What the?" Asuna said in shock. "Was that…a memory?"

"I think so," Kazuto said grimly before gasping. "Wait, where's Frank?!"

They then got a notification from the school that Kuroyukihime was in the hospital.

"Oh no," Asuna said quickly. "Frank must be there."

Kazuto then grabbed his girlfriend's hand. "Come on," he said hastily. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

The duo then hurried to the hospital, with Kazuto reactivating a certain program on both his and Asuna's Neuro Linkers.

**Meanwhile**

The ambulance arrived at the hospital and Kuroyukihime was immediately rushed to operation room while Frank sat by a bench that was just outside of it. Frank tightened his fists as tears leaked from his eyes while the hours passed.

_"This is all my fault,"_ Frank thought slowly as he lowered his head in shame. _"If only I had stopped her and used my powers, then she wouldn't be in this state."_ He then noticed a nurse approach him and handed him a small journal that had blood stains on it. Frank knew it was Kuroyukihime's.

Frank rubbed his eyes with his arm, accidently dropping the journal and causing it to open. He quickly picked it back up and saw a picture of him spitting out his drink in it.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Frank asked slowly as a doctor approached him.

"We managed to stop the bleeding," the doctor explained. "The synthetic protein micro-machines are currently running full-time in order to repair the affected tissue. But there's a lot of internal damage and the potential for her to go into shock at any moment. The next twelve hours will be very critical." The doctor then walked off to help other patients.

"Twelve hours," Frank muttered.

"You really should go home and rest," the nurse suggested. "We've already contacted her family. Someone will come by tomorrow."

"But then it might be too late. I can't just leave her alone while she's fighting for her life. I'm staying right here."

The nurse sighed, realizing he won't change his mind. "Alright. If you're going to stay, I'll get you a blanket. Try to get some rest while you can."

"Okay, thank you," Frank replied before the nurse began to walk away. Frank then looked at footage of Kuroyukihime on life support when he noticed she had her Neuro Linker.

"Hold on!" Frank said suddenly as he stood up. "Does she still have her Neuro Linker on her?"

"Of course," the nurse replied. "That's how we're monitoring her brain waves."

"Is that a stand-alone machine or is she connected to the hospital's local network?"

"She's connected to the local net here at the hospital." The nurse then walked off to go get a blanket.

_"Not good,"_ Frank said before entering the Accelerated World. Marth then checked the matching list and saw only Black Wolf and Black Lotus on the matching list.

_"This is bad,"_ Marth thought. _"When Kuroyukihime used Physical Full Burst, she used up 99 percent of her Burst Points. If someone challenges her while she's in this state, she'll lose Brain Burst."_

Frank then returned to the real world. _"Calm down. The chances of a Burst Linker attacking here will be pretty slim."_ He let out a gasp as he realized one exception. _"But what about Cyan Demon? He's obviously been watching us for the past few days. This is perfect opportunity for him to attack. Was this what he was waiting for, a chance for Kuroyukihime to leave herself completely defenseless?"_ Frank balled his fists tightly. _"I can't let him reach her. If he does, who knows what he'll do to her."_

_Do you want to save her?_ A mysterious voice spoke up.

Frank immediately looked around but didn't see anyone near him. "Who said that?" he questioned. Suddenly Frank's head flared up with pain, causing him to hold it with his hands. "Agh!"

_Answer me,_ the voice continued. _Do you want to save her?_

"O-of course," Frank struggled to say as he tried to suppress the pain. "I-I have to make things right with her. I can't…let it…end here."

_Very well,_ the voice replied. _When the time is right, have the girl place her hand on your Core Crystal and I will take care of the rest._

"Core Crystal?" Frank questioned before realizing what the voice meant. "Just who are you?"

The voice didn't answer as the pain in Frank's head subsided. "What was that about?" he muttered under his breath.

Suddenly Frank heard two familiar voices call out his name. He turned and saw Kazuto and Asuna running to him.

"What are you guys doing here?" Frank questioned.

"We heard about the accident," Kazuto said quickly. "Is Kuroyukihime gonna be okay?"

Frank stared the ground in shame. "She's in critical condition. The doctors don't know if she'll make it."

Asuna pulled the blue-eyed teen into a comforting hug. "I'm sure she'll be alright," she said soothingly. "Kuroyukihime's tough. Anyway, has anything weird happened while you were here?"

"No, why?"

"No reason," Kazuto took over. "Do you mind if we join you?"

Frank, although confused, simply shrugged. "Sure."

**That night**

The nurse had come back with a conveniently large blanket, which the trio shared as they sat on the bench. Asuna decided to get some sleep while Kazuto noticed that Frank was watching the hospital door.

"Something wrong?" Kazuto questioned, catching the other male teen off-guard.

"Uh, no, nothing's wrong," Frank passed off.

Kazuto raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "You're worried that monsters will attack, aren't you?" he guessed, causing Frank to gasp. "Knew it. Normally I'd call you crazy for doing it, but we have seen stranger things over these ten years. At the museum, you went at it alone, but now you've got me and Asuna backing you up. Whatever it is that's coming, it won't stand a chance against the three of us."

Frank stared at his friend in awe before smiling. "Thank you, Kazuto. But if this guy shows up, I'm going to fight him in a different battlefield, one you can't get to. How are you and Asuna gonna help me?"

Kazuto simply smirked. "Actually, I've got a little confession to make. It's something me and Asuna have had for a while." Kazuto then whispered something in Frank's ear, which shocked the Black Wolf player.

The trio decided to rotate watch duty, one to keep an eye out for Cyan Demon while the other two get some sleep.

**The Next Day**

Asuna was taking the final watch when the hospital hours were beginning.

"Marth, Kirito, time to wake up," she said, causing the boys to stir.

"Has he shown up yet?" Kazuto questioned as he rubbed his eyes.

"Not yet. You'd think he'd show up in the middle of the night when there'd be less people around. Marth, do you know what he looks like?"

"Only his avatar," Frank answered. "I have no idea what his human form looks like."

"That'll make things difficult," Asuna said. "Who's to say he didn't sneak past us during the night?"

Frank shook his head. "No way. Cyan Demon can try, but he can't sneak past me. My Hypersense would've went off the moment he came here."

"Oh right, I've got that too," Kazuto voiced. "It goes off whenever there's danger, like if someone was trying to ambush us."

"Kirito," Asuna said quietly.

Suddenly a cold sensation ran down Frank and Kazuto's neck. They both turned to the hospital entrance and saw a man navy-blue hair and in a blue business suit. The man gave off an inhuman presence.

"He's here," Frank said quickly.

The man turned towards the trio and sneered. He then started to sprint towards them with inhuman speed.

"Burst Link!" the teens shouted in sync, prompting them to enter the Accelerated World.

Marth, Kirito and Asuna then opened their match lists and selected Cyan Demon.

"Here we go, guys!" Marth exclaimed. "Let's take this guy down!"

"Yeah!" Kirito and Asuna agreed.

The trio then selected the duel option, prompting them and their opponent to be taken to the battlefield.

**To be continued**

* * *

**Wow, this was long. And a cliffhanger too. So yeah, Kirito and Asuna are Burst Linkers too and Marth found out that he's the Dark Swordsman. That last one will make things interesting later on. Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter.**


	5. Starburst Stream

Black Wolf found himself in the ruins of an old building. Right by his side were two Duel Avatars. The first was a male teenager, who's avatar looked identical to his, only he wore a helmet that resembled the NerveGear and had a black sword and a blue sword strapped to his back (Kirito's swords from the Calibur arc) in black scabbards. The player also didn't have a silver crystal on his chest and had black hair and eyes. His name was Graphite Edge.

The second player was female. Her avatar had white armor that resembled an overcoat with red highlights and a white visor that covered her eyes. She had a rapier strapped to her waist. She also had long chestnut-brown hair and brown eyes. Her name was Argent Flash.

"Kirito? Asuna?" Black Wolf asked slowly. "Is that you?"

Graphite Edge looked himself over. "Looks like it," he said. "What should we call you here, Frank, Marth, or Black Wolf?"

"Whichever really suits you," Black Wolf replied before checking his surroundings. "Where's Cyan Demon. If Brain Burst is based off of reality, he should've been right in front of us."

"I don't know," Argent Flash said as she reached for her rapier. "We should stick together and look around."

"Good idea," Graphite Edge agreed as he drew his swords. "Let's go."

Black Wolf and Argent Flash drew their weapons and followed Black Edge down the corridor. There was a weird tension in the air, like something was about to reach out and attack.

"Do you think he'll try to ambush us?" Graphite Edge questioned.

"I doubt it," Black Wolf replied. "Cyan Demon wears heavy knight armor. Any movement he makes will be pretty loud, giving away his location."

"So then we have to keep our ears peeled," Graphite Edge said. "Why does that sound familiar?"

Black Wolf shrugged. "Beats me." He then stopped as he heard the clanging of metal footsteps approaching from the front. "He's coming!"

"So you've decided to defend the girl after all," a familiar voice said. "I did warn you to step aside, but it seems you humans are as stubborn as you were thirty years ago."

Cyan Demon appeared in front of the trio. He had a menacing presence, something unlike a human.

"So you're Cyan Demon," Graphite Edge said casually. "Level with me, why would a monster want to play a game like Brain Burst?"

"My reasoning is simple," the blue avatar explained. "Thirty years ago, my master failed to destroy Tokyo and have his revenge on the Dark Swordsman. We may have been defeated that day, but we survived. Master Zarc may be missing, but we know what he would want us to do. To hunt down the reborn Dawn Remnant and use her to find the Dark Swordsman so he can have his revenge, and we believe we can achieve that by invading the virtual world, or should I say the Accelerated World."

"Dawn Remnant?" Argent Flash questioned.

"It's something I overheard monsters talking about from the museum," Black Wolf said. "I think Cyan Demon thinks Kuroyukihime is this 'Dawn Remnant'."

"I don't _think_ she's the Dawn Remnant, I _know_ she is," Cyan Demon interrupted. "While the Twilight Remnant, who is also the Dark Swordsman is missing, we know for a fact that Black Lotus is the Dawn Remnant. We know this because eight years ago, the Dark Swordsman appeared before her and defeated an entire squadron of monsters. Unfortunately, he disappeared shortly afterward, so we need Black Lotus to make him reveal himself."

"Okay, I've got a question for you," Black Wolf said. "Why did you keep challenging her in Brain Burst? Why not just attack her in the real world again?"

Cyan Demon let out a sigh. "Partially it because I wanted to see what she was capable of in the virtual world, but she kept running away. The other reason was that I hoped that she'd lead me to the Dark Swordsman if I kept up the pressure on her. But this was too good an opportunity to pass up. With her in that state, she won't be able to escape me this time. Once I capture her, my comrades and I will have all the pieces we need to lure out the Dark Swordsman from the shadows he hides himself in."

_"Well you succeeded in that,"_ Black Wolf thought to himself. _"You're standing right in front of him."_

"That's enough talking," Cyan Demon said suddenly. "I believe you're all here to fight me just to protect your friend. How naïve of you."

Cyan Demon then charged at the trio at high speed, despite the heavy armor.

_"He's fast, but not faster than Ash's bike,"_ Black Wolf thought as he and his teammates moved out of the way.

Cyan Demon fired his spike at Graphite Edge, but Argent Flash repelled it with her rapier, causing her special gauge filled up slightly.

"Careful. He's tough," Argent Flash warned.

"Got it," Black Wolf replied as he evaded another spike attack. "This place is too narrow for us to fight in, let's lead him outside."

"Sounds like a plan," Graphite Edge agreed. "Let's do it."

The trio hurried down the corridor, away from the monster Burst Linker.

"Running away already?" Cyan Demon mocked before hurrying after them. "You humans are cowards!"

"Marth, Kirito, take out those support structures!" Argent Flash ordered as she noticed several pillars up ahead.

The dual-wielders nodded as they activated Slant with their right/left swords respectively, causing their swords to glow red, and delivered a powerful horizontal slash on the pillars. The pillars were easily destroyed, causing the hallway to cave in behind them. They kept running as they heard a frustrated roar behind them.

"Nice thinking, Asuna," Graphite Edge praised. "That should slow him down."

The white avatar slightly blushed from the praise. "Thanks, but you guys were the ones who did the work."

"Don't pat yourselves on the back just yet, guys," Black Wolf said. "This fight is just getting started."

The trio then made their way to the roof, where they saw a dozen other players spectating, with one of them being the familiar box-like avatar with a laptop, Tin Writer.

"What are they all doing here?" Argent Flash questioned.

"They must have gotten an alert or something about the fight," Graphite Edge guessed. "They probably think it's a battle royal, when it's anything but the case." He tightened his grip on his swords. "This is more than just a duel, it's a fight for survival."

"You said it, Kirito," Black Wolf agreed.

The trio then heard a familiar pair of metal footsteps slowly approaching.

"Here he comes," Argent Flash said in a serious tone as she readied her rapier.

"Asuna, can you use your rapier skills in this world?" Black Wolf questioned.

"Of course, though some of my stronger ones will require me to use my special gauge."

"Same with me and Marth," Graphite Edge voiced. "Okay, we don't know what this guy is capable of. We'll need to hit hard and fast to win this. Don't forget to switch out whenever you use a sword skill."

"Got it," Black Wolf agreed as Cyan Demon stepped outside.

"Finally realized that this hit-and-run strategy won't work here?" Cyan Demon said arrogantly. "This stage is very compact, so there aren't a lot of places for you to hide in. You have no choice but to fight me directly."

"That's fine," Graphite Edge replied. "That's how I fight anyway!"

Graphite Edge then charged at the monster player, with Black Wolf and Argent Flash right behind him.

"Vorpal Strike!" Graphite Edge and Black Wolf exclaimed in sync. Their right swords began glowing red as they lunged them into the blue knight's chest, taking out a chunk of his HP.

"Grr," Cyan Demon said in frustration. "You little…"

"Linear!" Argent Flash shouted as her rapier began glowing pink. She then thrusted her blade at the monster's chest, damaging him even further.

The trio then began unleashing a barrage of attacks on Cyan Demon, who struggled to land even a glancing blow on them. Black Wolf managed to sever his right arm while Graphite Edge damaged his helmet, revealing a pair of glowing blue eyes behind them.

"That's enough!" Cyan Demon shouted. "Flash Stinger!"

Suddenly Cyan Demon's chest opened up before it shot out dozens of needle-like projectiles at the trio. They tried to evade them, but there were too many projectiles, so they ended up getting hit and collapsed on the ground. Black Wolf, Argent Flash, and Graphite Edge's HP all took major hits, though their special gauges were now full.

"Not…good," Black Wolf said as he tried to get back up.

"I'll admit, you all landed a few good blows on me," Cyan Demon stated. "But all it did was allow me to charge up my special move. And now it seems that all of your special moves are ready to go. Why don't you three show me what you've got."

Black Wolf gritted his teeth in frustration. _"It's no good. None of our sword skills are strong enough to take him out. What do we do now?"_

Cyan Demon chuckled as he watched the teens struggle to stand up. "Here, I'll give you some motivation." He proceeded to kick Black Wolf to the ground before holding the swordsman in place with his boot. "Spiral Gravity Driver!"

Cyan Demon slammed his driver-weapon into Black Wolf's chest with immense strength, causing the latter to exclaim in pain as he fell through multiple floors. Black Wolf's armor was heavily damaged and was cracked in a few areas.

"Marth!" Graphite Edge shouted in worry as he saw his friend's HP reduce to a mere fraction of its maximum.

Cyan Demon laughed cynically. "So he hung on," he commented. "Oh well, there's no way he can come back from this. I guess you two will just have to fight in his place."

Graphite Edge's eyes flared with anger. "You bastard," he said venomously. "You'll pay for that!" Graphite Edge then forced himself up and swung his swords against Cyan Demon's driver. Argent Flash also rose to her feet and attacked the monster player with her rapier.

Meanwhile Black Wolf somehow managed to force himself onto his knees, despite the pain he felt. He could hear his friends fighting back on the roof and found himself feeling powerless.

"Man, I'm useless," Black Wolf said to himself as his swords laid next to him. "This is a fight I couldn't lose, and I blew it. Was I really the Dark Swordsman, because I don't feel like a hero right now?"

Black Wolf then noticed a strange pod right in front of him with a familiar black umbrella leaning against it.

"Could it be?"

Black Wolf stood up and went over to the pod, where he saw the sleeping avatar of Kuroyukihime. He then retracted his visor and allowed some tears to leak from his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Hime," Black Wolf said grimly as he placed his hand on her cheek. "I couldn't protect you. This was my chance to make amends and I failed miserably. I don't know what I'm going to do. Without my full powers, I'm no match for this guy. I guess this wolf _doesn't_ have teeth, after all."

" _Gah_!" Graphite Edge shouted in pain.

"Kirito!" Argent Flash cried out in worry. " _Ah_!"

Black Wolf gritted his teeth in frustration. "They're in trouble. But what can I do? Nothing I possess can finish him off fast enough." Suddenly Black Wolf heard a heartbeat near him, Kuroyukihime's heartbeat. He then remembered something Kuroyukihime mentioned during their "duel".

"Strength is not measured by the number of victories you have," she had said. "It comes from your own beliefs, to fight for what you believe is right. That's something the Darkness Duo taught me when I read about them."

Black Wolf retracted his hand as he remembered fighting against Gleam Eyes with Kirito in a certain boss room, where they defeated it using a certain dual-wielding sword skill.

"She's right," he said as he made a fist. "When I was the Dark Swordsman, I never backed down from a fight that mattered, even if it meant I would die. I can't just give up when things get tough, otherwise that would insult myself and the people I fought beside. I…won't…give up!"

Suddenly Black Wolf felt a flash of pain on his back. He hunched over as he tried to process his thoughts when he then noticed two sets of black Spriggan wings appear on his back, which were shining.

"What the…? Wings?" Black Wolf then got a notification that he had unlocked a new special move, one that he remembered all too well. He couldn't help but smirk. "You were right, Hime. My powers are tied to my memories."

He then lowered his visor before hovering over to his swords and reached out to them. Lunara and Solaris immediately flew towards him and he caught them both effortlessly.

Black Wolf turned to Kuroyukihime's sleeping avatar and said, "Don't worry. I know what I have to do now. It's time that Cyan Demon learns who he's dealing with."

" _Hyah!_ " Black Wolf kicked off and soared towards the sky at high-speed.

Cyan Demon halted his attack on Graphite Edge as he looked up towards the flying avatar. Black Wolf flew high above the clouds before looking down on the Accelerated World, which went on as far as the eye could see.

_"No way,"_ Black Wolf thought in awe. _"This world just goes on forever."_

He then descended before hovering thirty meters above the ground. Everyone was shocked at the sight.

"He's still up in the sky!" one player exclaimed.

"That wasn't a jump?" another player added. "I can't believe it. He's flying!"

"An aviation ability," Tin Writer spoke up. "I knew this day would come. Black Wolf is the first Duel Avatar in the history of the Accelerated World with the ability to fly."

"Way to go, Marth!" Graphite Edge cheered. "And here I thought you threw in the towel!"

Black Wolf chuckled as he landed by his friends. "I couldn't let you and Asuna have all fun," he joked. "How about we finish this fight?"

"I hear you," Argent Flash said with a smile. "Cyan Demon's last attack on you completely used up his special gauge. Now's our chance to end this."

"Okay, Asuna, Kirito, you guys attack from the sides. I'll handle the front."

"You got it, partner," Graphite Edge replied.

The trio charged at Cyan Demon with a renewed vigor. Argent Flash attacked him on the left with Star Splash with Kirito injured him on the right with Horizontal Square before following it up with Vertical Square. The combined attacks greatly reduced the monster player's HP and knocked him to his knees.

"No," Cyan Demon said in fear. "This can't be happening. I won't lose to humans!"

"Too bad," Black Wolf said as his twin blades began glowing blue as his special gauge went down to twenty percent. "Because that's exactly what's going to happen. Starburst Stream!"

Black Wolf performed a horizontal slash to the right with Lunara on his opponent's chest, followed up with an uppercut with Solaris plus a full circle spin in the same place. Next, he did a horizontal slash to the right with both swords and followed up with another full spin, cutting through Cyan Demon's armor. He then repeated the movement again but instead of a spin, Black Wolf did a downward X-slash and followed it up with upward X-slash, using both of his swords for each one.

Black Wolf did two opposite-directional diagonal slashes, with Solaris went down-left while Lunara went up-right. He then reversed his grip on his swords and did a downward X-slash with both swords. Black Wolf then followed it up with a corkscrew attack before shifting his swords in a forward grip. He then did a downward X-slash and an upward X-slash next. He uttered a howl as he performed several more slashes at high speed on his opponent, blue streaks trailing his blades. Black Wolf then followed with a thrust with Lunara before concluding the sword skill by doing a forward lunge with Solaris, piercing Cyan Demon's heart and taking out the last of his HP.

"Th-this can't…be," Cyan Demon struggled to say as Black Wolf pulled Solaris out of him. "How…could I…lose to…the likes of you?"

"You made the mistake of going after someone I cared about," Black Wolf retorted. "Now go back to the abyss you crawled out of."

Cyan Demon's body began dissolving into shadow particles. He then let out a chuckle. "It doesn't matter if you defeated me. I was one of the weakest of my master's forces. No matter how many of us you take out, we will find the Dark Swordsman, and he will pay for what he did to Master Zarc."

"Don't count on it," Black Wolf said coldly as the monster disappeared.

"Is it over?" Argent Flash asked slowly.

"I think so," Graphite Edge replied, prompting them to sheath their weapons.

The trio then heard the sounds of an elevator and turned around. Black Wolf's eyes widened in disbelief when he saw who stepped outside of it. It was Kuroyukihime. He slowly made his way to her and stopped when he was right in front of her.

"Is that really you?" Black Wolf questioned, afraid Kuroyukihime might disappear if he took another step. Instead, she simply smiled, prompting Black Wolf to tackle her into a hug, which she returned. "Thank goodness! I almost thought I lost you!"

"I was surrounded by a dark void," Kuroyukihime said. "And all I could hear was your voice, Frank. You protected me again. Thank you." She broke off the hug and looked her protégé over. "You've taken so much damage and it was all for my sake." Kuroyukihime then noticed the wings on Black Wolf's back. "Beautiful. So my theory was right. These wings prove that there's more to you than meets the eye, Frank. In the entire history of the Accelerated World, there's never been an avatar that can fly. I'm glad I chose you. Now then, it's time for me to leave my peaceful cocoon and reach for the sky once more."

Black Wolf let out a gasp. "Are you saying…?"

Kuroyukihime nodded. "It's time for the Accelerated World to know that the Black King has returned." Kuroyukihime accessed her menu before activating her main avatar.

Suddenly a flash of purple light enveloped her, causing everyone to shield their eyes. Black Wolf suddenly found himself by his friends as a blast of black energy shot out from Kuroyukihime's position, causing part of the structure to collapse. When the smoke from the attack cleared, Black Wolf could see a female avatar in the center of the collapsed section.

She had long black hair, wore black futuristic armor that had a short-bladed skirt, bladed limbs, along with a black visor with purple glass that covered her eyes and nose. She also had purple crystals in parts of her body.

"What the?!" a blue player shouted in shock.

Tin Writer nearly dropped his laptop in disbelief. "That avatar!" he said as he tried to collect himself. "It's really her. The greatest traitor in the Accelerated World. The Black King, Black Lotus. I can't believe she's alive!"

"Whoa," Graphite Edge said in awe. "She looks awesome."

"Yeah," Argent Flash agreed.

Black Wolf simply smiled. "I don't know what you were talking about, Black Lotus," he added. "Your avatar isn't ugly, its beautiful. It totally suits you."

The Black King looked surprised from the praise. "You really think so," she said slowly before approaching Black Wolf. "So then, Black Wolf, would you care to take me on a flight?"

"Sure."

Black Lotus retracted her blades, revealing hands on her arms, which she wrapped around her protégé, who picked her up, bridal-style.

"Have fun, you two," Graphite Edge teased, prompting his girlfriend to slap him upside the head.

"Not the time for that, Kirito," Argent Flash scolded.

"Are those who I think they are?" Black Lotus questioned.

"Yeah, I'll explain later," Black Wolf replied. "Hold on tight."

Black Wolf took to the sky, keeping a tight grip on the Black King, who was admiring the view.

"Amazing," Black Lotus said in awe. "I could really get used to this." She then looked down at the spectating players. "To all Burst Linkers serving under the Six Kings, hear me! I am Black Lotus, the one who rebelled against your kings' rule! Me and my legion, the Nega Nebulus, have emerged from hiding to put an end to this ridiculous truce. Take up your swords and raise your torches high because the time for battle has come!"

**Later**

Black Wolf, Black Lotus, Graphite Edge, and Argent Flash were in an empty room in the stage after the spectators had left.

"You just had to declare war on the Accelerated World, didn't you?" Argent Flash reprimanded. "You're as reckless as Marth, Hime."

Black Lotus simply smirked. "It was going to happen sooner or later," she scoffed. "Now the Six Kings will know I'm still around and that I'm coming for them. Now would you mind explaining how both you and Kazuto got a hold of Brain Burst."

"It started when I found Brain Burst installed on my Neuro Linker a few months ago," Graphite Edge explained. "After talking to Asuna about it, I shared the program with her, and we decided to investigate it before we were gonna bring Marth in. We even managed to reach level 4. In fact, we were going to tell him about it right when you recruited him."

"I see," Black Lotus said inquisitively. "So what legion are you two a part of?"

"We're solo," Argent Flash replied. "We've gotten offers to join the major legions, but we always turned them down."

"Then maybe you can join Nega Nebulus," Black Wolf offered. "We kinda do need more members since the entire Accelerated World will be gunning for us. Is that okay with you, Hime?"

Black Lotus simply shrugged. "Well, I won't deny that we do need more members and they'll certainly be a big help. Alright, Graphite Edge, Argent Flash, would you like to join the Black Legion?"

"Sure," Graphite Edge replied confidently. "I'm down with that. Plus, I'll get to fight really strong opponents if I do."

Argent Flash groaned as she held her forehead. "You're the same as always, Kirito. I guess I'll join too. Someone has to keep you and Marth in check after all."

"Oh come on!" the boys exclaimed in frustration, causing the girls to giggle in amusement.

"By the way, Hime," Black Wolf spoke up, causing the girl to face him. "How are you feeling?"

"Mentally I'm fine, but I'm not sure about my physical condition. My real body is still in bad shape."

"I see." Black Wolf then recalled what the voice had told him. He then saw a memory of when Kirito touched his crystal and resonated with it, giving Black Wolf an idea.

"I think I might be able to help you," Black Wolf said. "Place your hand on my crystal."

Black Lotus looked confused. "Um, why? What good would it do?"

"I'm following a hunch. If it works, you should be healed in the real world."

Black Lotus looked completely lost but nodded in acknowledgement. She stared at her protégé's crystal, which seemed to be pulsing with energy, almost like a heartbeat. _"Hold on. I recognize that crystal,"_ Black Lotus thought to herself. _"It's the Core Crystal of the Silver Aegis, the other name of the Dark Swordsman. Does that mean Frank is…?"_

Black Lotus dismissed her thoughts and reached out for Black Wolf's crystal with her right hand. As soon as her hand made contact, the crystal began glowing with bright silver light. Black Lotus could feel a new power coursing through her body as some of the light began gathering at her chest. Soon a pillar of silver light erupted from under the duo, knocking Graphite Edge and Argent Flash back from the shockwave that followed.

"Marth! Kuroyukihime!" Graphite Edge shouted in concern. "Are you guys okay?"

The light soon died down, revealing both Black Wolf and Black Lotus, unharmed. However, Black Wolf's crystal had an x-shaped hole in it while Black Lotus now had a silver x-shaped crystal prominently on her chest.

"What just happened?" Black Lotus asked nervously as she looked herself over.

Another memory came back to Black Wolf, one that told him exactly what he was. "We resonated," he explained. "I know what I am now. I'm the Silver Aegis. When you touched my crystal and accepted my power, we resonated and you became my Driver."

Black Lotus nodded as she digested the information. "Okay, I'm with you so far. But what about this crystal on my chest? Is that how it normally works?"

"No, I sent half of my core to you in order to heal you in the real world. An Aegis core contains the blueprints of all life, so healing your injuries is nothing."

"Cool," Black Lotus said eagerly. "Does it come with any special powers?"

"Aside from being able to wield Lunara and Solaris, not really," Black Wolf replied. "Then again, I've never actually done this before. When you get out of the hospital, we'll need to practice fighting as a Driver and Blade."

"Does that mean you'll teach me how to use sword skills?"

Black Wolf simply smirked. "Maybe."

**Later that afternoon**

Frank was standing outside the door of Kuroyukihime's hospital room. He was carrying a bouquet of black flowers. Frank slowly knocked on the door and waited.

"Come in."

The door opened by itself, allowing Frank to enter. Inside, he saw Kuroyukihime sitting up in her bed and was wearing pink sleepwear. She had her hair in two braids.

"Hey," Frank said simply.

"Hey," Kuroyukihime repeated before eyeing the flowers. "Are those for me?"

"Yeah, I thought I'd get these for you to celebrate you recovering," he explained. "I think you can tell why I chose this color."

Kuroyukihime giggled in amusement, which caused Frank to smile as he put the flowers in a vase.

"Cyan Demon's real body disappeared after we decelerated," Frank added as he took a seat next to his guardian. "No one seemed to have noticed that he was even there."

"Interesting," Kuroyukihime mused. "But I suppose he got what was coming to him, fighting against the legendary Dark Swordsman."

Frank nearly fell out of his chair. "Wait, you know that?!" he exclaimed in shock.

"Of course. I knew your crystal looked familiar, and I finally figured it out. I don't know how it's possible, but you're the Dark Swordsman, one of the heroes who disappeared after the Demon War thirty years ago. I guess that also makes Kazuto the Black Swordsman and Asuna the Lightning Flash."

Frank simply sighed in defeat. "Please don't tell anyone about that. Who knows what kind of attention I'll get? And please don't call me by that title."

Kuroyukihime looked confused. "I understand wanting to keep it a secret, but why don't you want me to call you by that title? It means you're a hero."

"I'm no hero," Frank passed off. "Remember that appearance I took on back at the museum? Well I finally remembered what it was. It was my avatar from Sword Art Online. It's sort of…a manifestation of the Dark Swordsman, since SAO is where I got that title in the first place."

"Okay, but I still don't understand why you don't seem to like the Dark Swordsman title?"

"Because it reminds me of the 4,000 people I failed to save from SAO, which angers me, and it also fills me with guilt. What that guilt is for, I don't know."

"How much do you remember?" Kuroyukihime asked curiously.

Frank paused to think before answering, "I remember most of my time in SAO and parts of the final day of the Demon War, but everything else is still a blank. By the way, has anyone noticed _that_ yet?"

It took a moment for Kuroyukihime to know what he was talking about. "No, I've made sure to keep it hidden." She unbuttoned the top of her shirt, revealing a silver x-shaped crystal gleaming on her chest. "I'm surprised that this is on my real body too. Thanks for teaching me how to conceal it."

"You're welcome," Frank replied as he revealed his Core Crystal, which had an x-shaped hole in it. "I bet the doctors were all shocked to see you recover so quickly. I heard you'll be cleared within the next three days."

"Just out of curiosity, can you actually take this back?" Kuroyukihime asked. "Don't get the wrong idea, I don't mind having half of your core, but I'm worried you've done something irreversible by doing it."

Frank simply chuckled as he folded his arms. "Relax, there's nothing stopping me from taking back my Core Crystal from you, but if I did that, your body would go back to the way it was before we resonated. However, I could also send you my remaining half, which would fully heal you, but then I'd die soon afterward."

"I see, so we're basically stuck like this."

"Pretty much." Frank then remembered something and reached inside his coat. "I forgot, here. You might want this back." He revealed Kuroyukihime's journal, which was now clean, and held it out to her.

Kuroyukihime's went scarlet as she practically yanked the journal out of his hand. "D-did you read it?" she asked in embarrassment while clutching her journal close to her chest.

"Not really, all I really saw was a picture of me in it. I didn't feel like looking through it. Contrary to popular belief, I do value other people's privacy."

Kuroyukihime looked a little relieved after hearing that. "Thank you, but since we're now Driver and Blade, I guess I should probably tell you my real name."

Frank raised an eyebrow. "Your real name?"

"Yes, and I want you to start calling me that from now on," Kuroyukihime continued. "It's not that much different from my nickname actually. My real name is…Kuroba Yukiko."

"Kuroba Yukiko," Frank repeated before smiling. "Well then I guess I'll let you call me 'Marth' then. It's only fair. It's nice to meet you, Kuroba."

Kuroba simply smiled with joy. "Likewise… Marth."

**Elsewhere**

"Cyan Demon was defeated?!" one monster said while it and its allies were in a dark cave just outside of Tokyo.

"Unfortunately, yes," another monster answered. "He was going for the Dawn Remnant while she was in a hospital when his signal disappeared. It's possible that the Dark Swordsman and his allies intercepted him and killed him."

"So the Alfheim Warriors are back?" the third monster questioned.

"Hard to say, but it is very likely. If they have returned, then things are going to get interesting. We must locate Master Zarc so the _true_ final battle will begin."

**To be continued**

* * *

**So Kuroyukihime has finally revealed her real name to Marth and became his new Driver. She'll be going by Kuroba for the rest of the story. And yes, Kirito and the others will be calling her that too. Anyway, see you all in the next chapter!**


	6. Aqua Sniper

**September 29th, 2056**

Frank and Kazuto were in the kendo dojo, watching the kendo team practice.

"Do you ever miss kendo?" Kazuto questioned.

"Not really," Frank replied casually. "The only reason why I did it was to try out my sword skills. I've got no interest in going back to it. Besides, if I did, I'd be accused of cheating because of my higher strength and agility again."

"That's true," Kazuto agreed before they began to walk towards the courtyard. "Another reason for me not to go back to kendo either. So how's Kuroba doing?"

"Last I checked she was doing pretty well, though she has complained that the food at the hospital is terrible."

Kazuto couldn't help but laugh. "Hospital food, the bane of the Black King," he joked. "That's hilarious."

"Careful Kirito," Asuna said teasingly as she revealed herself to the duo. "I might just tell Kuroba you said that. I'm sure she'll love that."

Kazuto flinched in fear. "Please don't!" he said desperately. "I don't wanna die!"

Both Frank and Asuna burst out laughing. "Relax Kazuto," Frank said as he patted the Graphite Edge player on the back. "Once you've gotten all your abilities back, you should be able to stand a chance against Kuroba."

"Yeah, well at least I got Starburst Stream back," Kazuto said. "And I remember most of our time in SAO."

"I remember SAO too," Asuna added. "But I feel like there some parts about it that I'm missing. I remember the fight with Gleam Eyes, Skull Reaper, and even you guys fighting Heathcliff and Zelgius, but there are still some parts that are really blurry."

"Same," Frank replied. "By the way, Kazuto, are we still on for tonight?"

"Yup, I'm ready for a few tag team matches in Brain Burst," Kazuto said. "We're gonna show the Accelerated World the power of Nega Nebulus."

"I wish I could join you guys, but I've got some studying to do," Asuna said remorsefully before checking the time. "Anyway, I should get going. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Okay, later Asuna," Frank said.

"See you tomorrow, Asuna," Kazuto added before the Argent Flash player walked away. "So do you want to head over to my place?"

"You go on ahead," Frank said. "I'm going to make a quick detour first."

Kazuto smirked as he realized his friend's intent. "Okay, just don't do anything too crazy."

Frank's face went beet-red in embarrassment. "Seriously?!"

**Meanwhile**

Kuroba was in her hospital room with Megumi, who was putting her hair into a ponytail. It turned out she was friends with Kuroba, only she didn't know her real name.

"Are you sure you want to put your hair up like this?" Megumi questioned. "I still think braids would suit you better."

"Just do it," Kuroba said as she placed her hand on where her crystal was hidden under. Her bracelet was gleaming in the evening sun's light. "I'm trying something different today."

"Okay, but I think that a ponytail will just get in the way, like when you lie down and stuff."

Kuroba then sent her friend a file. "Please take this to the Student Council for me," she requested. "Even though I'm in the hospital, I'm still our school's Vice-President." Kuroba then perked up and began adjusting her bangs. "He's here."

As if on que, the door opened, revealing Frank, who walked in.

"I swear, how do you always know when this guy shows up?" Megumi questioned.

"Sorry, but that's my little secret," Kuroba said teasingly. "Anyway, didn't you say you needed to get going?"

Megumi caught on to what her friend was implying and said, "Oh right. See you later, Hime." She climbed off the bed, grabbed her purse and walked out. "Have fun, Frank, but don't stay too long," she added before leaving.

"So does she not know your real name?" Frank questioned as the door closed by itself.

"No, but she does mean well," Kuroba answered as she brushed her ponytail with her hand to show it off. "I'm still not that comfortable with Kazuto and Asuna knowing it either."

"Well it was the only way you were gonna get Asuna to trust you," Frank added. "And it makes things less confusing on my end." He then looked the girl over. For some reason, seeing Kuroba in a ponytail reminded him of a girl with green hair. "Your hair sure looks nice."

Kuroba slightly blushed. "Thanks. You said that you liked my hair up, so I decided to go with this look for now. Plus, it's hard to find any entertainment in here or getting a decent meal."

Frank let out an amused chuckle. "Glad to see that you're taking me being an Aegis pretty well," he said as he sat next to her. "Have you managed to get your Burst Points to a safe amount?"

"Yes, it wasn't easy finding challengers, but I managed to get enough Burst Points for me to safely use Brain Burst again," Kuroba replied. "As for the Aegis thing, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. If you really look at it, you're technically twenty-eight years old."

"You make me sound like I'm an old man," Frank said in amusement. "If it makes you feel any better, I actually do consider myself to be eighteen. That's what I am physically, anyway."

"I see," Kuroba said as she brushed her ponytail. "How exactly were you able to age? From what you told me about Blades, aging isn't something they do."

Frank scratched his cheek sheepishly. "I really have no idea. I guess I probably exerted too much power during the Demon War which caused my body to revert to that of an eight-year-old. Although the weird part is that if I switched to my avatars, I would regain my teenage body, albeit temporarily."

Kuroba giggled, which made Frank crack a smile. "That's pretty funny." She then looked out the window, where she saw the setting sun's orange light. "It's almost evening."

Frank looked out the window as well. "Yeah. Talk about a beautiful sunset. It reminds me of watching Aincrad destroying itself after Kazuto and I beat Heathcliff and Zelgius."

"There's actually a book detailing the events of Sword Art Online," Kuroba added. "But something tells me that the writers were a little biased on some things."

Frank let out a groan in annoyance. "Tell me about it. I took a look at it out of curiosity, but there are some parts that are wrong. One of them being that I dual-wielded when my friends and I fought Demon King Jarrod, when I was actually fighting one-handed."

"Maybe you should critique it," Kuroba joked.

Frank let out a chuckle. "Yeah, maybe I should." He then checked the time and sat up. "Anyway, I need to get going. Kazuto and I are gonna be doing some tag-team matches so I can reach level 2."

"Okay, but make sure you don't level up right away," Kuroba advised. "Leveling up costs a lot of Burst Points, so if you're not careful, you could leave yourself in a really bad position."

"Thanks for the warning," Frank said. "Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, Kuroba."

"Okay, goodbye, Frank," the Black King replied as her protégé left.

**That night**

Kuroba was tossing and turning in her sleep as she had what seemed to be a nightmare. In her dream, she saw Marth, Kirito, Asuna and several other people she couldn't recognize fighting against a man wearing black armor and a crimson cape. The man had gray and pure black eyes and was wielding a large wicked-looking sword.

Despite being vastly outnumbered, the man was holding his own on what Kuroba assumed to be the Alfheim Warriors. Even Marth and Kirito were struggling to leave an impact on him. However, things seemed to turn around when Marth tossed his swords to Kirito, who then proceeded to attack the man with a flurry of high-speed slashes, slightly injuring his opponent.

"What the…?" Kuroba said in confusion.

The dream then flashed to Marth and Asuna chanting the Stormsurge spell while their friends were engaging several different boss monsters at once. After they unleashed the spell, all the monsters were killed, but Marth soon blacked out for some strange reason.

"Frank!" Kuroba shouted in worry, despite knowing that this was a dream. She attempted to run to the teen as he was being held by Asuna, but Kuroba's legs wouldn't move.

Kuroba then found herself in a dark void with Marth, in his SAO attire, standing before her with his back facing her. Lunara and Solaris were in their scabbards on his back.

"Frank?" Kuroba said with unease.

Suddenly Marth turned to face her before he split into two people. One was him, still in his SAO attire, while the other person looked like him, only he had silver hair and eyes, and wore silver futuristic armor. The second person also had a powerful inhuman presence too.

"What the? Who are you?" Kuroba questioned in shock.

The silver duplicate was about to speak when Kuroba woke from her dream with a start. She was breathing really hard and brushed her bangs away from her face.

"Was that the type of nightmares Frank's been having?" Kuroba asked herself before shaking her head. "No, that felt way to real to be just a dream. It must be his memories. Our link must have caused them to leak into my dream somehow. But that last part was weird. It was almost like…it was showing me that there's someone else inside of Frank. But who and why?"

**Meanwhile**

Black Wolf and Graphite Edge were fighting against two Burst Linkers and were winning. Their opponents were a blue bulky robot and a thin brown robot, both of whom were male.

The brown avatar tried to charge at Black Wolf from the left, but Graphite Edge intercepted him with his swords.

"Now Marth!" Graphite Edge shouted.

Black Wolf nodded and summoned his wings before taking to the sky.

"Whoa!" the brown avatar said in awe. "So that's the avatar who can fly!"

His partner, however, was not too thrilled. "This isn't the time to be starstruck! Besides, since when do wolves fly?!" The blue robot then started throwing large rocks at Black Wolf, who chuckled as he dodged them.

_"Only five seconds left,"_ Black Wolf thought as he checked the timer. If he and his partner kept this up, they'll win the match.

The brown avatar charged at Graphite Edge, who kept him back with his swords as the timer ran out. When Black Wolf landed, he got a notification that he had enough Burst Points to reach level 2.

"Good game, you two," the blue avatar said cheerfully. "You guys have some awesome teamwork."

"Thanks," Graphite Edge replied as his partner landed next to him. "I hope we'll be able to fight again."

"Me too," the brown avatar added. "I can't wait to tell my friends that I fought the flying avatar. Oh and be sure to use that level-up bonus wisely. There aren't any do-overs with that."

Black Wolf nodded in acknowledgement. "Thanks for the advice," he said respectfully. "And for a good fight."

The two avatars then logged out while Black Wolf checked the notification on his chance to level up. It would cost him 300 Burst Points for him to make it to level 2 and he had 308 Burst Points.

"Now I see what Kuroba meant when she said I should wait before leveling up," Black Wolf said.

Graphite Edge nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you have to be really careful when you get the option to level up," he said. "It might be a good idea for you to wait until your points reach at least 350 before you try to level up, just so you'll have a little safety net in case you lose a match."

"Good idea. How about we call it a day? It's getting pretty late in the real world."

"Okay."

The two black-type players then logged out and found themselves back in Kazuto's room at his apartment. The two friends then shared a fist bump.

"If we keep this up, I'll reach level 4 in no time," Frank said with a smile.

"I don't doubt that," Kazuto agreed. He checked the time and saw that it was nearly 10:00. "Damn, it really is late. Frank, how about you spend the night here."

"I'm down with that. My parents are out of town for a business trip anyway."

The duo then went into the kitchen to fix a quick dinner, which were just simple sandwiches since neither of them were really good cooks like Asuna.

"Hey Frank," Kazuto spoke up as they started to eat at the table. "There's something I want to talk with you about."

Frank paused from eating and eyed his friend curiously. "What is it?"

"Hold on, it might be good if Asuna is part of this too. Let me just call her real quick." Kazuto set up a three-way call between him, his girlfriend, and Frank through his Neuro Linker.

"Hello, Kirito," Asuna answered as she appeared on a virtual display.

"Hey Asuna," Kazuto said casually. "Do you have a minute to chat with me and Frank?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"It's about our memories. We managed to get some of them back, but the rest are still missing. I think we should start planning on how we can get them back."

"Kazuto does make a good point," Frank agreed. "Like me, you guys have a few unknown abilities. Maybe they're tied to your memories too."

Asuna folded her arms as she processed the information. "Yeah, that does make sense, but how would we even go about regaining them? We've tried that for ten years and we haven't had much luck."

"That's where my idea comes into play," Kazuto explained before displaying screenshots of all the Alfheim Warriors, including himself, Frank, and Asuna. "I think the best way for us to regain our memories is by tracking down our friends. Just like us, they went missing after the Demon War. If we appeared in this era, then it's not hard to believe that the others are here too."

"I see," Asuna said inquisitively. "But how are we going to find them? They could be anywhere and they might not have their memories either."

"That's where things get tricky," Kazuto continued. "I would want Kuroba involved in this since she is our leader, but she's stuck in the hospital for another two days."

"That's a lousy excuse," said a familiar voice.

Suddenly Kuroba's image appeared alongside Asuna, surprising the others.

"K-Kuroba," Kazuto stuttered out. "W-what are you doing here?"

"My Neuro Linker notified me that you three were in a call," she explained. "Since I'm having some trouble going to sleep, I thought I'd join in. Now what's this I hear about tracking down the other Alfheim Warriors?"

"Kazuto thinks it might be the best way for us to regain our memories," Frank replied. "And I gotta say, I do see the logic behind it."

Kuroba held her chin in her hand. "It does make sense, not to mention that there are some photos of you and the rest of your guild we could use as a reference. But finding them won't be easy, not to mention that we'll probably have to do it one at a time."

"But if we find them and if they have Brain Burst, they can join Nega Nebulus," Kazuto interjected. "The Alfheim Warriors was one of the top guilds in ALO, despite our small numbers, but we always looked out for each other, at least that's what the archives say."

"That is true," Kuroba said in agreement. "They would certainly be a boon for the Black Legion. Very well, I propose that we move forward with this idea. Frank, Asuna, what do you think?"

"I'm down with it," Frank said simply.

"Me too," Asuna added. "If they are here, then we need to find them. Cyan Demon may be gone, but his allies are still at large. Who knows what they're plotting?"

"Nothing good, that much is clear," Frank said. "Kazuto, do you have a basic idea of how to track down the others?"

Kazuto pointed at two pictures, which had red x's on them. "Well, Celina and Yuuki are out because they died in the Demon War." He, Asuna and Frank all looked sad for a brief moment, though Frank was the most affected. "But I think I might know where this one is." Kazuto pointed to a picture of a female aqua-blue-haired Cait Sith archer.

"Sinon," Frank said as he read the name from below the picture. Almost immediately, he, along with the others (Kuroba saw it through her resonance with Frank), saw flashes of the archer knocking two Retrieval Arrows and fired them at Solaris and Excalibur as they fell into the abyss. After pulling the swords back, she then held them out to Marth and Kirito.

"I'll let you have them on one condition," Sinon had said as she gave the swords to them. "Every time you draw them, you have to think about me, okay?"

Despite it just being a vision, Kuroba got a pang of jealousy from hearing the archer's request.

"Okay, so where do we find her?" Asuna asked.

Kazuto opened up a file that had information on a girl named Shino Asada. "It wasn't easy, but I managed to find Sinon's real name inside a government database. Since the three of us still go by our actual names, I figured the others would too. I found out a girl named Shino Asada attends another high school here in Tokyo and that the oldest records on her date back to ten years ago."

"Just like us," Frank said with interest. "Hmm… We can't all go at once, that might overwhelm her. Me and Kazuto will go talk to her and see if we can jog her memory."

"Make sure to check to see if she's a Burst Linker while you're at it," Kuroba added. "You can only recruit one person to Brain Burst, except the first Burst Linkers, who can recruit as many players as they want, so you need to be careful on who you choose to be your protégé."

"I'd rather wait until I reach level 4 until I even think about recruiting someone," Frank replied. "But thanks for heads-up."

"You're welcome." Kuroba let out a yawn. "I think I'm gonna call it a night. Let me know if you find this 'Sinon' person."

"Will do," Kazuto said before he ended the call. "Let's go to sleep too. We've got a busy day tomorrow."

Frank nodded in agreement. "Yeah."

**The Next Day**

After school let out, Frank and Kazuto headed out to a small café where Shino supposedly goes to. After getting a table for them, the duo simply waited.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Frank questioned.

Kazuto nodded. "Yeah, from what I gathered about her, Shino comes here frequently after school," he answered. Kazuto quickly accelerated to check the match list, which showed only the names of his and Frank's Duel Avatars that were in the area. "Okay, if Shino is a Burst Linker, we'll just accelerate again to see what her avatar's name is."

"Alright, but how are we going to recruit her anyway? I doubt she'll believe us if we tell her that she's one of the Alfheim Warriors."

"True, we'll just…" Kazuto stopped talking as he noticed a girl with short brown hair and eyes entered the café. She wore a brown school uniform and had nonprescription glasses.

"It's her," Frank said quietly. He and his partner quickly accelerated and checked the matching list again, where they saw a new name appear: Aqua Sniper.

"So Sinon is a Burst Linker too," Kirito said with a light smile. "That means we don't have to send her an application for it. But I wonder how she got the program?"

"Well, well, I didn't expect to find you two here?" a new voice spoke up.

Marth and Kirito jumped back when they saw Sinon standing behind them. She was in her Cait Sith avatar and had a bow strapped to her back, along with a quiver full of arrows.

"Uh, hi," Marth said nervously.

Sinon simply chuckled in amusement. "Honestly, Marth, you haven't changed," she said before cracking a light smile. "It's good to see you and Kirito again."

"Wait, you remember us?" Kirito asked in surprise.

"Partially, I remember the final day of the Demon War and Marth disappearing, but everything else is a blank," Sinon explained. "So how have you guys been? Are the others with you?"

"We've been good," Marth answered. "As for the others, it's just us and Asuna. We don't know where the others are."

"I see. How much do you guys remember?"

"The three of us remember the last day of the Demon War too, plus most of our time in SAO," the Black Wolf player said. "Anyway, me, Kirito and Asuna have joined the Black Legion, Nega Nebulus. We were wondering if you'd join us."

"I heard the Black Legion had returned," Sinon mused, her arms folded across her chest. "I didn't think you guys would be a part of it, though. I guess I'll join too."

Kirito cracked a smile as he held his fist out to the sniper. "Awesome! It'll be great to fight by your side again, Sinon."

"Likewise," the Aqua Sniper player replied while giving Kirito a fist bump.

Suddenly the Accelerated World changed to that of a swamp. Marth, Sinon, and Kirito also changed into their Duel Avatars. Sinon's Duel Avatar had aqua-blue armor that resembled her GGO avatar, including her white muffler. She also had aqua-blue hair and eyes that were behind a visor that was the same color.

"A challenge?" Aqua Sniper said in disbelief. "But who…?"

"Well, well, look what we have here?" a new voice said. "Two black players and a blue player. And we're in the Rotting Forest stage. This'll be a piece of cake."

Black Wolf gritted his teeth as he looked around, trying to track down the voice. "Who said that?! Where are you?!"

Suddenly an explosion happened at a nearby tree and two avatars suddenly came at the trio at high-speed. They were Sand Duct (a level 3 male brown avatar) and Nickel Doll (a level 4 female metal avatar that is nickel-colored). Sand Duct resembled a large golem, with a small head with a yellow visor. His large arms resembled cannons with four cube fingers with three of them having suction vents while his back had two jet thrusters.

Nickel Doll resembled a doll with two large yellow eyes. She had her metal hair in two large pigtails and five smaller ones in the back. She was also wearing a long, light blue dress.

"You just made a big mistake, challenging the three of us to a duel," Graphite Edge said confidently as he drew his swords.

"Yeah," Black Wolf agreed with a smirk as he drew his weapons. "Not only do we outnumber you, but we also happen to be an excellent team." He then noticed Aqua Sniper had disappeared, but he wasn't worried in the slightest.

Sand Duct cringed a little. "He's right," he said. "I think we bit off more than we can chew."

Nickel Doll looked unfazed, however. "Oh please, only one of them is level 4," she said arrogantly. "Those other two are levels 1 and 3. We can take them!"

Black Wolf simply smirked. "Fine, but don't say we didn't warn you."

_"Marth, Kirito, can you hear me?"_ Aqua Sniper said like through a radio. She was on top of a tree with her Hecate rifle set up, ready to fire.

_"Yeah, Sinon, we hear you,"_ Graphite Edge replied before realizing. _"Wait, how are you doing this?"_

_"One of my Duel Avatar's abilities is long-range communication with my teammates. It's very useful since I'm a sniper. Anyway, I'm in shooting position. If you guys can distract these guys long enough for me to find their weak point, I can take them out."_

_"Got it,"_ Black Wolf said. _"Leave it to us."_

"Watch yourself, Marth," Graphite Edge warned. "This stage is a poisonous swamp. Touch the water and you'll take damage."

"Avoid the water at all costs," the other dual-wielder said casually. "I can do that. Especially with these." Black Wolf summoned his wings, shocking his opponents.

"No way," Sand Duct said in disbelief. "Those wings… _He's_ the guy everyone's been talking about. The avatar who can fly."

Graphite Edge smirked. "You got that right! I'll handle Sand Duct. Marth, you take Nickel Doll, but be careful. She can generate electricity with her hands."

"Hey!" Nickel Doll shouted. "Don't go giving away my secrets!"

Black Wolf chuckled in amusement. "Electricity, huh?" he mused. "How interesting."

"Sand Blast!" Sand Duct shouted as he unleashed a vortex of sand at Black Wolf, only for Graphite Edge to block it with his swords.

"Sorry, but you're fighting me!" the black metal-type said smugly. He then cut through the sand and charged at his opponent before slashing at Sand Duct's arms with his swords.

Meanwhile Nickel Doll ran at Black Wolf before delivering several quick kicks at his chest, only for Black Wolf to block them with his swords. Black Wolf then blocked a final kick with Lunara before knocking Nickel Doll into the water.

Nickel Doll then popped out of the water and glared at Black Wolf. "That wasn't nice!" the metal-type exclaimed in irritation. "How dare you throw me in this toxic muck, bully!"

"It's not my fault this place is freaking swamp!" Black Wolf argued.

Nickel Doll then fired a blast of electricity at the dual-wielder, who barely managed to avoid it by taking to the sky. Unfortunately, the metal-type avatar wasn't done as she fired a few more electric blasts, with one of them hitting its mark.

"Ahh!" Black Wolf shouted in pain as he was electrocuted before crashing in the water. His HP went down a little while his special gauge went up by twenty percent.

"Marth!" Graphite Edge shouted in concern as he blocked Sand Duct's arms with his swords.

Black Wolf managed to pick himself up, only for Nickel Doll to plunge her hands in the water to electrocute him again.

"You're done!" Nickel Doll declared confidently as Black Wolf's HP continued to decrease from both the poison water and the electric attack. "Wait, weren't there three of you?"

Suddenly a bullet pierced her right pigtail, severing it while also causing Nickel Doll's HP to decrease by twenty percent. The attack naturally surprised her, causing her electric attack to end, allowing Black Wolf to escape via the sky.

_"Thanks for the save, Sinon,"_ Black Wolf said as he flew up. He checked his special gauge and saw that it was now full.

_"You're welcome,"_ Aqua Sniper replied casually.

Lunara began glowing red as Black Wolf activated Vorpal Strike, using twenty percent of his special gauge to power it up. Black Wolf let out a battle cry as he flew at his opponent, running his black sword through her chest and knocking her into the trees and creating a smoke cloud.

"Did that do it?" Graphite Edge questioned as his partner landed next to him.

Black Wolf shook his head. "No, it didn't."

As the smoke cleared, it showed that Sand Duct had protected Nickel Doll with his body and brought her back to shore.

"That was a nice move," Sand Duct praised. "Very powerful. But the outcome has already been decided and you guys will not be the winners."

Graphite Edge gritted his teeth. "We'll see."

Sand Duct fired another Sand Blast at the sword-users, prompting them to dodge.

"You guys seem to have forgotten the most important thing about team battles," Sand Duct scolded. "And that is that everyone in their team must work together."

Black Wolf simply chuckled. "Oh we know," he said before eyeing his male partner. "Hey, Kirito, why don't we show them what we can really do?"

Graphite Edge smirked in anticipation. "I was waiting for you to say that," he replied. "Sinon, when I give the signal, take out Sand Duct."

_"Roger that. But what are you up to?"_

_"Oh, something Marth and I have been thinking of doing for a while."_

Suddenly black Spriggan wings appeared on Graphite Edge's back, shocking their opponents.

"This guy can fly too?!" Nickel Doll shouted in disbelief.

Black Wolf and Graphite Edge then took to the sky and began circling their opponents, causing them to fire lightning and sand projectiles at the duo, which both missed.

Graphite Edge then appeared before Sand Duct and severed his right arm by using Sonic Leap with his right sword. Sand Duct's HP went down by thirty percent as well.

"Now, Sinon!" Graphite Edge shouted.

Aqua Sniper's special gauge then went down to twenty-five percent before shouting, "Fatal Bullet!" She then pulled Hecate's trigger, firing a blue energy bullet at Sand Duct, hitting his head and taking out the rest of his HP.

"Sand Duct!" Nickel Doll shouted in shock.

Suddenly she saw Black Wolf and Graphite Edge right in front of her.

"Oh crap," she muttered under her breath.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Black Wolf asked.

"You bet," Graphite Edge replied with a grin.

"Starburst Stream!" the black duo shouted in sync, causing their swords to glow blue while their special gauges went down by eighty percent. They then unleashed their joined attack on their remaining opponent, taking out the rest of her HP.

The boys then sheathed their swords and high-fived each other.

"We bad," Graphite Edge cheered.

"Totally," Black Wolf agreed. He then checked his Burst Points and saw that he had 354 Burst Points. "Sweet. Now I can finally level up."

"So what level-up bonus will you get?" Aqua Sniper questioned as she returned to her comrades.

Black Wolf opened his menu and selected the option to level up. After paying the 300 Burst Point cost, he selected the option to increase his flight speed.

"Why am I not surprised?" Aqua Sniper said before facing Graphite Edge. "Anyway, how are you able to fly, Kirito? I thought Marth's avatar was the only one who could."

Graphite Edge scratched his head sheepishly. "Yeah, well me and Asuna have hidden abilities too," he explained. "When I recovered some of my memories from the Demon War, it allowed me to gain the aviation ability."

"I see," Aqua Sniper said inquisitively. "I also have some hidden abilities too. They might have similar unlock requirements too. Anyway, let's log out for now. If I'm going to join Nega Nebulus, I'll have to meet your Legion Master."

**Later**

Frank, Kazuto, and Shino went to the hospital to meet up with Asuna and Kuroba. Asuna was ecstatic to see the sniper again. Kuroba's hair was also down in its usual style again.

"Sinon!" the Argent Flash player exclaimed as she tackled the Aqua Sniper player into a hug. "I'm so glad to see you again!"

Shino was a little surprised but returned the hug. "I'm glad to see you too, Asuna," she replied before facing Kuroba. "I'm guessing you're the leader of Nega Nebulus."

"You are correct," Kuroba confirmed. "My name is Kuroba Yukiko and my avatar is Black Lotus. I'm also Marth's new Driver." To prove her claim, she showed Shino the Core Crystal on her chest.

"So what Marth and Kirito were saying was true," Shino said with interest as she adjusted her glasses. "I'd like to join Nega Nebulus, if you don't mind."

"I've got no objections," Kuroba replied nonchalantly. "From what I've heard about you, you'd make an excellent addition to the Black Legion. I'd be a fool to turn you away."

Shino smiled as she bowed her head in respect to the Vice-President. "Thank you very much. By the way, I'm thinking of transferring to your school too. Is that okay?"

"Sure. It'll make things easier for all of us if we were attending the same school. By the way, why do you wear glasses? The Neuro Linker's vision correction practically makes them worthless."

Shino smiled sheepishly. "I guess you could say they're a part of me," she answered. "My eyesight's actually better than average, but I've always worn glasses as a form of comfort."

"I see," Kuroba said slowly. "Well, today's my last day in this prison. Tomorrow will be my first day back to school. I've got a lot of studying to catch up on."

Frank chuckled in amusement. "Don't forget that we've got training to do too," he added. "You've got a lot to learn if you're gonna be my Driver."

Kuroba smiled in anticipation. "I look forward to that. It's not everyday that I get to train under the Dark Swordsman himself."

The others simply laughed, but Kuroba couldn't help but stare at Frank in wonder. _"That dream I had still doesn't make any sense,"_ she thought to herself. _"Is Frank hiding something from me, or is there something about him that even he doesn't know anything about? I hope I'll find out eventually."_

**To be continued**

* * *

**Sinon is back! She's actually my second favorite SAO girl, take a look at my profile if you want to know who my favorite SAO girl is. The battle in this chapter may have been short, but it was three against two, and the former knows how to work together. Anyway, I think I'll start putting explanations on certain moves here in the author's note rather than in my profile, because I don't want to make it crazy long.**

**Vorpal Strike: A one-hit one-handed sword skill that both Black Wolf and Graphite Edge can use. While it does not require the special gauge in order to use, by 20% of the gauge, the skill becomes significantly stronger and its knockback becomes even greater.**

**Fatal Bullet: One of Aqua Sniper's special moves. It costs 75% of her special guage to use and shoots a blue energy bullet that deals massive damage, however if it hits a Burst Players head, it instantly kills them, however, they must be either the same level or lower for it to successfully one hit kill.**

**Anyway, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**


	7. Training

**October 5th, 2056**

Frank and Kuroba were in the middle of the city park, with the former of which training with his swords. Kazuto, Asuna and Shino were busy with claiming a territory in the Accelerated World for Nega Nebulus. Kuroba was watching while sitting in the shade of a tree as Frank switched to Marth (ALO form) and practiced several one-handed sword skills before concluding with Starburst Stream. Kuroba was wearing a black jacket, shirt, a black skirt and leggings and shoes.

"Very impressive," Kuroba said while clapping. "Now when will I be able to use that skill?"

Marth returned Solaris to its sheath before facing his guardian. "When you're ready for it," Marth explained. "But before you can learn any dual-wielding skills, you need to learn the one-handed sword skills. That's how I started out."

Kuroba sighed in exasperation. "I should've guessed it wouldn't be that easy," she said before standing up and wiping the dirt from her skirt. She then made her way over to the Spriggan.

"Here," Marth said while holding Lunara to her.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. Since you're my Driver, it only makes sense if you train with my swords."

Kuroba slowly took Lunara from him, and nearly dropped it on the ground because of how heavy it was.

"Jeez! How can you swing this monster around like it's nothing?!" Kuroba exclaimed as she gripped Lunara's handle with both hands while struggling just to hold it up. It felt like her joints were creaking under the black sword's weight while sweat started to slide down her forehead.

Marth chuckled in amusement. "I've got a high strength parameter. That's how I can swing this 'monster' around like a paperweight." He then placed his right hand on the blade, causing it to glow purple. When Marth removed his hand, Lunara immediately felt lighter in Kuroba's hands; enough for her to wield it with just her right hand. The light also went out.

"That better?" Marth asked curiously.

Kuroba nodded in confirmation. "Yes, thanks. There's no way I would have be able to swing this thing around if its weight didn't change. It took everything I had just to hold it."

"As your sword skills improve, Lunara's weight will gradually increase. Once its weight returns to normal, that will signify that you're ready to dual-wield."

"Okay. I'm ready."

Marth summoned a copy of Light Repulser in his right hand and moved a few feet away from his guardian. He instructed her to follow his movements, which she did perfectly, probably because she was used to swinging her bladed arms in the Accelerated World. After a few hours of practice swings, they decided to take a break, which Kuroba appreciated since her arms were getting sore and a little numb from all the swinging.

"Lunara and Solaris are not ordinary weapons," Marth explained as the duo sat on a picnic blanket under the same tree. "Not only are they tied to me, but they contain an ancient power within them. One look and you'll think they're made of metal, but if you look closer…"

Kuroba held Lunara's blade in her hands and stared at her reflection in it. The black sword felt very unusual in her hands, as if there was a deep secret sealed within it.

"You're right," Kuroba agreed. "It's not like any metal I've ever seen. What is it made out of?"

"Beats me," Marth said casually before taking a sip from a water bottle. "Hey Kuroba, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"The other day you mentioned that you can become a guardian only once. Do you think you could elaborate a little more?"

"Sure. You see, with the current license of Brain Burst, only the first Burst Linkers, or linkers with the Originator skill, can recruit multiple players at once. So, when you try recruiting someone you don't know will be compatible for the program, it's a huge gamble. One example would be you, because I didn't know if the download would work or not, but I guess it did because you're an Aegis."

"Maybe," Marth said. "But Asuna was able to download it too and she's human. Maybe something else helped out?"

"Possibly," Kuroba replied. "Because of this limit, there's always a strong bond between a guardian and their protégé. You've seen that with Kazuto and Asuna."

"Yeah, but they've always been like that," Marth answered. "If anything, Brain Burst just brought them closer." A thought then came to the Spriggan's head. "Hold on, what about you? Do you have a guardian?"

Kuroba lowered her head, refusing to look her protégé in the eye. "Yes, I have one," she said grimly. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you about them. I don't want you to come in contact with this person, no matter how slim that chance might be. It's because I'm your legion master and a girl who cares for you."

Marth noticed the fury in her eyes as Kuroba balled her hands into fists.

"It may be nothing but petty jealousy, but there was a time when I was incredibly close with my guardian," Kuroba continued. "She was the very center of my world. I believed she would brighten my future and keep the dark and cold forever at bay. That's what I truly believed." She slammed her fist on the ground in anger.

"But that was just an illusion!" she exclaimed, catching Marth off-guard. "Now you could say that this person is my greatest and most despised enemy! I'd like nothing more than to fight this person and sever her limbs clean off her body. I'd smile as she begged for her life and then I'd ruthlessly cut off her head."

Kuroba then took a deep breath and calmed down. "But that dream will never come true. Look, Marth, you must understand how these relationships are. There's a clear distinction between a guardian and their protégé than that of your typical Burst Linker. Take a guess what it is?"

Marth thought a moment before answering, "It's because you know each other's real identities, which means you know who your guardian really is."

"Exactly, and it can be difficult," Kuroba explained. "You see, events in the Accelerated World can affect and magnify emotions elsewhere, like in the real world. And I don't just mean love and affection, but feelings of anger and hatred too. So while the alliance between a guardian and their protégé is the strongest bond in all of the Accelerated World, it can also turn into an enormous curse."

"What do you mean?"

"Even if you wanted to, you couldn't fight them. The real-world implications are too great to ignore. If that's not a curse, then what is? Burst Linkers exist for the sole purpose of fighting each other and then you have this in spite of that fact."

Marth took a deep breath as he processed everything he heard. "This person must have done something really bad to make you feel this way," he said. "I know better than to press a girl to answer something she doesn't want to want to talk about. It seems like we both have dark pasts." Marth then took Kuroba's hand into his own, causing her to slightly blush from the contact. "But know this. I will never turn my swords against you, Kuroba. I'd rather kill myself than turn against you."

"Don't be stupid!" Kuroba argued, finding herself getting worked up. "If things come to that then…!"

"I mean it!" Marth interrupted in a serious tone. "I'd send you my remaining half of my core and then kill myself if it came to that. We promised each other that we'd look out for each other and I'll do whatever it takes to keep it. No exceptions!"

Kuroba was speechless for a few moments before smiling. "Thank you, Marth," she said softly before hugging his arm. "No matter what the future has in store for us, I'll never regret choosing you."

Marth was trying not to look like an idiot as he tried to form a reply. "Y-yeah, and I'll never regret sharing my Core Crystal to save you," he struggled to say with a straight face.

"Just promise me that you won't kill yourself. I don't know what I'd do if you were gone."

The Spriggan cracked a light smile. "Yes ma'am."

The duo then decided to eat the lunch that Asuna had prepared for them, which were a few sandwiches and some fruit and chips.

"Wow," Kuroba said after taking a bite of her sandwich. "Asuna sure knows how to cook."

"She's way better than me," Marth added. "I pretty much burn everything I make."

Kuroba giggled at the thought. "Hey, if I learn sword skills, will it carry over to my Duel Avatar in Brain Burst?"

"Yeah, since our Duel Avatars are manifestations of us, anything I teach you in the real world should carry over to Brain Burst. Anyway, you ready to keep going?"

"You bet."

**Meanwhile**

Graphite Edge, Argent Flash and Aqua Sniper were in a territory battle in the Shibuya District, which was the Midnight Forest stage in the Accelerated World, which was a forest that was permanently dark. Graphite Edge and Argent Flash were busy holding back other Burst Linkers while Aqua Sniper was picking off stragglers with her Hecate rifle.

_"Asuna, behind you!"_ Aqua Sniper suddenly exclaimed.

Argent Flash turned around and saw a green player charging at her. The rapier-user easily evaded the player's attack before killing him with Star Splash.

_"Thanks, Sinon,"_ Argent Flash replied. _"They're starting to slow down. If we keep this up, then Shibuya will be ours."_

_"Yeah,"_ Graphite Edge added. _"I thought this would be harder since Marth and Kuroba aren't here, but they've got their own things to worry about. Let's show these guys what Nega Nebulus is capable of."_

_"Yeah!"_ the girls agreed.

Three players then tried attacking Graphite Edge, only for them to be cut down by his swords as he chained one-handed sword skills through Skill Connect. Eventually the battle ended in the Black Legion's victory.

"Yeah!" the trio exclaimed in triumph.

"That was pretty impressive," one player told the group. "It seems that even though the Black Legion is small, everyone in it is super powerful."

"Thanks," Graphite Edge replied. "I hope we'll fight again soon."

"As do I," the player said before pausing. "Since you guys fought so well, I think it's only fair I tell you this. I want you to pass this on to your other members too."

Aqua Sniper eyed the player in suspicion. "That's a little ominous. What is it?"

"A few months ago, there's been rumors of a powerful player named Dark Cerberus spreading throughout the Accelerated World. While I haven't seen the guy personally, the stories I've heard aren't pleasant. This Dark Cerberus guy hasn't lost a single match since he first showed up and that he's crushed every opponent who challenges him. It's almost like the guy's a demon or something."

The trio gasped in shock. "Wait, what?" Argent Flash questioned.

The player simply nodded. "Yeah, I found it hard to believe myself when I first heard about him. Apparently, this guy is level 8, but some think he's just as powerful as the Kings of Pure Color. There's even a rumor going around that he's searching for Black Lotus so he can challenge her for the title of 'Black King'."

"That's…unnerving," Graphite Edge said grimly. "Thanks for bringing this to our attention."

"You're welcome," the player replied. "I hope that if you guys do cross paths with this guy, that your Legion Master is with you. Anyway, I'll see you guys around." The player then logged off, leaving the Nega Nebulus members alone in their new territory.

There was silence for a moment before Aqua Sniper broke it by saying, "What should we do?"

Graphite Edge was quiet before facing his comrades. "We need to tell the others about this, especially Kuroba. If this guy's anything like Cyan Demon, she might be in danger again."

Argent Flash nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Marth and Kuroba should be at the park right now. Let's go."

The trio then logged out of Brain Burst so they could warn their friends.

**Meanwhile**

" _Seii!_ " Kuroba shouted as she successfully executed a Slant attack with Lunara.

The Black Lotus player could hear her "teacher?" applauding her.

"Great job," Marth said with a small smile. "You catch on fast. I honestly thought it would take you longer to be able to use sword skills."

Kuroba simply smirked. "I'm a fast learner," she answered confidently. The Black King then eyed Lunara and noticed that it felt a little heavier in her hand, but the weight was still manageable.

"If you keep this up, you'll be able to pull off the more advanced sword skills," Marth continued. "Like this…" The Silver Aegis summoned Light Repulser and promptly used Horizontal Square.

"Cool," Kuroba commented.

Marth then found himself staring at the crystalline sword and seemed to be lost in thought.

"Is something wrong?" Kuroba questioned in concern.

The Spriggan let out a deep breath. "Nothing, I was just remembering the launch day of Sword Art Online," he explained. "Kirito and I were gonna do some hunting outside the Town of Beginnings when a new player named Klein approached us and asked us to teach him how to play SAO. The three of us ended up hunting boars until it was sunset. Then we found out that SAO was a death game. Kirito and I…" Marth paused for a moment as guilt filled his eyes. "We ended up ditching Klein so we could survive."

Marth tightened his grip on Light Repulser's pommel. "It's something I've always regretted. No matter what I do, I'll never be able to amend that. That guilt will never go away."

Suddenly the Spriggan felt someone grab his other hand. He looked up and saw that it was Kuroba while Lunara's blade was stuck in the ground. "Don't say that, Marth," she said reassuringly. "You did what you had to so you could survive. Besides, I'm sure that Klein forgives you, wherever he is."

Marth couldn't help but stare at his guardian in disbelief. "Kuroba…"

The Black Lotus player smiled. "I may not know everything that happened in your past and I won't force you to tell me… I just hope that you'll be able to forgive yourself over what happened." Kuroba lowered her head. "I'm going through the same thing myself."

Marth raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "What do you mean?"

Kuroba shook her head dismissively and gave her protégé a forced smile. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." She then pulled Lunara out and stared at her reflection in its blade. "Anyway, let's get back to training."

Kuroba turned around and got into a fighting stance. She briefly closed her eyes to concentrate. Suddenly Lunara began glowing blue as she activated Vertical Arc. Kuroba opened her eyes and let out a shout as she performed a diagonal slash from top-left to bottom-middle. As soon as Lunara's blade neared the ground, Kuroba adjusted her wrist and concluded the skill with another diagonal slash from bottom-middle to top-right.

Kuroba let out a pant before smiling in triumph.

"Nice," Marth said, impressed.

"There you guys are!"

The duo turned and saw Kazuto, Shino and Asuna running towards them.

"Hey guys," Marth said casually. "How are things in Brain Burst?"

The newly arrived trio slouched over and tried to catch their breath when they approached their friends.

"We managed to claim the Midnight Forest zone, but we found out something pretty serious," Kazuto explained after a few moments. "Apparently there's a level 8 player named Dark Cerberus that's looking for you, Kuroba."

"What?" Kuroba questioned intently. "Why's he looking for me? If he wants to fight me, that's not a good idea for him."

"That's the thing," Asuna took over. "Apparently Dark Cerberus is as strong as the Six Kings of Pure Color and he's crushed every opponent he's faced."

"What?!" Marth and Kuroba exclaimed in shock.

"We were shocked too," Shino said. "From what we've been told, the reason Dark Cerberus is looking for you is to claim the 'Black King' title."

Kuroba held her chin with interest. "I see. He sounds like a demon. I wonder…"

"Maybe he's a monster like Cyan Demon," Marth suggested. "Either way, we can't ignore this."

"No, we can't," Kuroba agreed. "Unfortunately, whoever this guy is, he won't reveal himself until he wants to. Whenever that is, we'll need to be ready. That includes raising your level, Marth."

The Spriggan nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Got it. And if this guy's as strong as they say, then we'll also need to keep up with our training. I've got a feeling that sword skills will come in handy in the fights ahead."

"I agree," Kuroba replied. "I wonder, will I be able to use Lunara and Solaris in the Accelerated World?"

Marth simply shrugged. "Probably, but let's wait until your training in the real world is done. You've still got a long way to go before you're ready to dual-wield."

"Mind if we watch you guys train?" Asuna asked curiously. "I mean, we might be able to offer a few pointers if needed."

The duo locked eyes with each other and slowly nodded. "I guess it's okay," Kuroba spoke up. "Besides, you all have more experience with sword skills than me."

"All right!" Kazuto replied with a smirk. "Then let's get started. Marth, can I borrow Light Repulser for a bit?"

"Sure."

Marth handed his sword to the Graphite Edge player before they proceeded to coach their Legion Master on different sword techniques while Asuna and Shino watched from under a tree.

"I really hope that we'll be able to find the other Alfheim Warriors," Asuna said.

"I'm sure we will," Shino agreed. "We just have to keep looking. Who knows, maybe they're looking for us too?"

"Maybe," Asuna mused.

**To be continued**

* * *

**Sorry if this chapter seemed a little short, especially when compared with my other chapters in this story. Anyway, Marth and Kuroba have learned about a Burst Linker named Dark Cerberus. He's an OC that ScytheMasterX gave me and he will be a reoccurring character. Another thing I'd like to add, I know I said in the beginning and in Dark Swordsman 2 that this story will be following the anime, unfortunately the anime doesn't cover a whole lot because there's only ONE season. So I'm planning on getting the Accel World light novels (which range to 21 volumes, granted not all of them have been translated to english yet) so I'll have more material to work with while still having some original plot points, especially with Marth. With that out of the way, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**


	8. The Red King

**October 20th, 2056**

It's been about a month since Frank made his debut in Brain Burst. He has also reached level 4, along with Shino. Kuroba has furthered her training with him and is now able to use three-hit one-handed sword skills.

It was late afternoon. Frank was sitting in a tree as Marth (ALO form) in the park. He was taking a nap and was dreaming about himself with long silver hair and wearing silver overcoat with a metal breast plate and black trimming, silver pants and boots, and fingerless gloves and belt of the same color. He was wielding a silver photon sword with a silver energy blade and an FN Five-Seven.

Marth was deflecting barrages of bullets with his photon sword as he charged towards his opponent, who had a machine gun. Marth then managed to cut his opponent down with his photon sword before finding himself flashing forward to him in his ALO form fighting alongside a blonde girl wearing a short white-green dress with gold and black highlights, long white gloves then went up to her shoulders, black leggings, and white and gold boots. She was wielding a broadsword that matched her color scheme and had a blade of pure golden light. They were fighting a man wearing crimson red armor and wielding a large two-handed sword.

The man fired a barrage of dark magic at Marth and the girl, prompting the girl to summon a green hexagonal barrier to protect them, however she ended up lowering the barrier too soon and ended up getting hit right in the stomach. She ended up falling to her knees.

"Mythra!" a male voice shouted in worry crying out in pain.

"One down," the man in red armor said cynically. "Now for you, Dark Swordsman!" The man then fired another barrage of dark magic at the duo.

Suddenly Mythra (the girl) noticed Marth get in front of her while he returned Solaris to its sheath.

"What are you doing?" she asked nervously.

Marth simply smirked. "Just watch."

The Spriggan swung Lunara around a few times before he rested the blade on his shoulders, prompting the sword to glow blue as he activated the seven-hit one-handed sword skill, Deadly Sins. When the nearest projectile was in range, Marth swung Lunara down at it, cutting through the base of the spell. He then spun before slashing through several more projectiles. He concluded the sword skill by performing a backflip and cutting through the remaining projectiles with Lunara.

"Marth!" a voice called out. "Marth!"

Marth then woke up with a gasp and saw Kazuto directly below him.

"Hey," Marth said casually.

"Sup," Kazuto replied. "I've been looking everywhere for you. Why'd you turn off your Neuro Linker?"

Marth nimbly jumped down and landed next to his friend before reverting back to Frank, revealing him wearing a black leather jacket, a black shirt, blue jeans and black boots. "Sorry, I wanted to relax so I turned it off so no one would attack me," Frank explained as he reactivated his Neuro Linker.

"Any bad dreams?"

Frank shrugged as he put his hands in his coat pockets. "Somewhat. I think the first part was me fighting some guy in Gun Gale Online. I'll need to ask Sinon if she knows anything about it. The second part was weird though."

Kazuto raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I was fighting a man wearing red armor with this girl. I think her name was… Mythra."

"Mythra?" Kazuto questioned, the name sounding familiar to him. "That's a weird name. Anyway, I hear your mom is away on another business trip."

"Yeah, it's been happening a lot lately. Luckily I do know how to take care of myself."

"Well, if you get lonely, you can always stay at my place like when we were kids."

Frank gave his friend a light smile. "Thanks, Kazuto."

* * *

Frank entered the apartment and found it empty. He found himself thinking about his lost memories.

_"I may know who I am now, but most of my past is still a mystery to me,"_ Frank thought to himself. _"And we haven't found the rest of the Alfheim Warriors. But… even if I recover my memories, will I be able to handle them?"_

"Welcome home, big brother," a female voice spoke up.

Frank immediately tensed up and said, "Who said that?!"

Suddenly a little girl, around eleven years old, approached the teen from the kitchen. She had red hair tied up in two pigtails with blue ribbons and red eyes. She was wearing a white blouse with a blue string tie, a pink apron on top of it, a blue skirt and long white socks. The girl was smiling at him.

"Who are you?" Frank said coldly. "And how did you get in here?"

The girl seemed to by unfazed by his tone. "I'm Tomoko Saito," she said simply. "I'm your second cousin. I'm here for a visit and your mother allowed me to stay here with you, big brother."

Frank, however, didn't relax and raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Oh really?" he questioned. He didn't recall Rias mentioning that she had any family. As far as he knew, it was just the two of them.

"Anyway," Tomoko said. "I need to get back in the kitchen. I'm baking some cookies."

Tomoko went back to the kitchen area to continue with her baking, prompting Frank to go into the dining room to keep an eye on her. He checked his messages and saw that Rias had been trying to contact him stating that Tomoko would be staying with him for the next couple of days.

_"But that doesn't make any sense,"_ Frank thought to himself.

The closest thing that his foster mother had for family, besides him of course, were some colleagues she new years ago. When he was little, he and Rias would have get-togethers with them and their kids, but Frank always kept his distance because of his powers. However, there was a time when he and some of his "cousins" went into a nearby woods and were attacked by a bear. Frank had to switch to Marth (ALO form) to fend the beast off while the others escaped. After that, most Rias's old friends viewed him as a monster despite him saving their kids, prompting her to practically cut off ties with them in disgust. What was strange was that none of them reported Frank to the government and to this day he didn't understand why.

With this knowledge in mind, Frank kept a skeptical gaze on the redhead before taking a seat at the table. Tomoko then brought him a tray of cookies.

"Help yourself," she said cheerfully. "I hope you don't mind me using your kitchen or your food."

"It's fine," Frank said slowly. Out of curiosity, he took one of the cookies and ate it, where he found himself amazed by its taste. "This is pretty good."

Tomoko couldn't help but smile. "Thank you!"

_"Whoever this girl is, she seems nice, but something feels off,"_ Frank thought. _"I should play along with this to see if she slips up."_

"Hey, I noticed you're not wearing a Neurolinker," Frank spoke up. "Why is that?"

Tomoko looked a little nervous. "It's because…I don't really like the Neurolinker. I'm not a fan of movies either. Is it okay if we just talk?"

"I guess. What do you want to talk about?"

The redhead took a seat next to him and pulled out a picture of him, Kazuto and Asuna by the park. All three of them were smiling without a care in the world. It reminded him of a much simpler time where it was just him and his two friends.

"Who are these people?" she asked curiously.

"Kazuto and Asuna, my best friends," Frank answered nonchalantly.

"Is Asuna your girlfriend?"

Frank nearly choked as he was eating another cookie. Eventually he was able to recover, but not before a few loud coughs.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Frank exclaimed in embarrassment. "She's just a friend."

"Oh, my bad."

The two then started having a casual conversation, with Frank talking about his school life, which seemed to interest Tomoko. However, things changed when Frank noticed a tan line at the back of her neck, which resembled a Neurolinker.

_"I knew it,"_ Frank thought before saying, "Okay, why are you really here?"

Tomoko seemed confused. "Huh? What are you talking about?" she asked.

"You can drop the act," Frank said as he stood up and placed his right hand on his waist. "I don't have any cousins, much less anyone named Tomoko. You're a Burst Linker, aren't you?"

The red-head drooped her head before muttering a curse, which was a little surprising given her age. "I should've known that tricking the Black Wolf would be easier said than done." She then eyed the teen with a confident look. "Alright, you've got me. My real name is Yuniko Kozuki and my Duel Avatar is Scarlet Rain."

"Scarlet Rain," Frank muttered before letting out a gasp. "Hold on. _You're_ the second Red King. The new one!"

Yuniko cracked an arrogant grin. "I see you've done your homework. Not bad for a newbie."

"Pretty impressive that you managed to track me down in the real world," Frank commented. "So why are you here?"

"Well since you discovered my identity, I'd like to meet your master, Black Lotus," she demanded. "And not in the Accelerated World. I want it to be here in the real world."

Frank folded his arms. "Let me guess. If I refuse, you'll challenge me to a duel and promptly kick my ass."

"Pretty much, but I'm surprised to hear you admit that."

Frank let out a sigh. "Please, I know my limits. There's no way in hell that I'll be able to take on a level 9 Burst Linker as I am right now. Anyway, I'll talk with Black Lotus tomorrow. But I can't make any guarantee that she'll want to meet you."

* * *

**The Next Day**

Frank went to the school lounge, where he saw Kuroba sitting at her usual spot with a book and a cup of tea in front of her. When he approached her, she gave him a light smile.

"Good morning, Marth," Kuroba said warmly.

"Morning, Kuroba," Frank replied with a light grin while he took the other seat. "You're here early."

"Of course, I am. It's easier to reach the second-floor classrooms from here," she answered as if it was obvious. Kuroba then briefly played with her hair. "And I prefer waiting for you rather than having you wait for me. And when you walk through the entrance, I get to look up and see you, and for the rest of the day, I get to cherish that moment at every turn."

Frank laughed sheepishly as he scratched his head. "That's…nice," he answered slowly. "Anyway, there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

The Black Wolf player then told his guardian about Yuniko. When he finished, Kuroba balled her hands in frustration.

"I never would've expected this," she said as she tried to calm herself. "But I'm glad you had the foresight to do some basic research on the Six Kings. How did she manage to track you down?"

"I don't know," Frank replied. "But whatever she wants to talk about, it has to be pretty important if she's going to these lengths. So what should we do?"

"Hmm, I guess it couldn't hurt to hear what she says, but we should tell the others about this," Kuroba said firmly.

"Alright, but will you be okay?" Frank asked in concern. "I know that anything involving the Red King still bothers you."

Kuroba simply smiled. "It's sweet that you care. I guess being your Driver has its perks," she teased. "I'll be fine. Anyway, from what I've heard about Scarlet Rain, she spent all her level up bonuses on her long-range attack power. They call her the Immovable Fortress because of her weapon. Did you battle her at all?"

"No, I chose not to provoke her, and from what you just told me, that was a smart idea," Frank explained. "Anyway, from what I've studied, only one player has ever had 'Red' in their name, which was the previous Red King, Red Rider." He then saw Kuroba's eyes fill with sorrow.

"I-I'm sorry," the Black Wolf player said quickly. "I wasn't thinking."

Kuroba shook her head. "No, it's alright. It seems like I've still got a long way to go with my own past. I had come to a conclusion, that all other Burst Linkers were my enemies. So to suddenly feel this way, well it's pretty ridiculous." She then let out a gasp as Frank took her hand into his own.

"I know I've said this before, but I'll never turn against you, Kuroba," Frank said in a serious tone. "We're more than guardian and protégé, we're partners."

The Black Lotus player was taken aback from statement before smiling.

* * *

Scarlet Rain was standing on top of a building in the Accelerated World. Her avatar greatly resembled her real appearance, including her small pigtails. Her body was a metallic red with some parts being pink as well as green eyes. She also had a hand blaster that was called Peace Maker strapped to her waist. Scarlet Rain was watching a large metallic being tearing apart other Burst Linkers. The being looked to be made out of chrome and looked like a literal monster.

* * *

Frank and Kuroba went up to the school roof where they met up with Kazuto, Asuna, and Shino.

"Hey guys," Kazuto greeted as the duo approached them.

Asuna looked up at the clear blue sky. "It's such a nice day," she said. "It sure beats being cooped up inside. Anyway, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well," Frank started before he and Kuroba filled them in on Scarlet Rain.

Shino held her chin in thought. "This is bizarre," the Aqua Sniper player said. "Why would the Red King have such an interest in Marth?"

"I think she wanted to convince Marth to join her legion," Asuna guessed. "After a few days, he might have gotten quite fond with her, then she'd make up some sob story to get him to switch legions."

"That's ridiculous," Kuroba scoffed. "There's no way Frank would fall for something like that. It's the oldest trick in the book."

Frank sat on the bench and leaned back on it. "Obviously it wouldn't have worked on me," he agreed. "I'm not really that trusting. She would've been wasting her time with me."

"That habit of yours really saved you big time, Frank," Kazuto voiced, catching everyone's attention. "You see, every Legion Master has a special ability called the Judgement Blow. It allows them to terminate any of their members. Any legion member that gets hit by it loses all their points and Brain Burst forever."

"Wait, does that mean if Marth joined the Red Legion, this girl would've had complete control over Black Wolf?" Shino questioned.

"Exactly," Kuroba confirmed. "But because Frank blew her cover, she decided to talk with me to propose some kind of deal directly."

There was silence for a few moments.

"I think we should hear her out," Asuna spoke up. "If she's going through this much trouble, it must be pretty important."

Kazuto nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I think so too."

"Me three," Shino added.

"Very well," Kuroba said. "Frank, contact the Red King. Set up a meeting for four PM. Tell her we'll all meet at your place."

Frank let out a sigh in defeat. "Alright."

* * *

Frank and Kuroba were at the former's apartment building. They were in the elevator and headed for the tenth floor.

"Any reason why it has to be at my place?" Frank questioned. "It's kind of a mess right now."

"Oh, so it's okay for the Red King but not me?"

Frank groaned. "Never mind. I'm just glad my mom is away right now."

Soon the elevator reached the tenth floor, prompting the duo to exit and head for the former's apartment. As soon as Frank opened the door, they immediately heard a, "Die sucker! Burn in hell!"

"Was that…?" Kuroba questioned.

Frank slowly nodded. "Yeah, that's Yuniko. And it sounds like she found my video game collection."

The duo went inside and removed their shoes before Frank closed the door. They then made their way to the living room, where they saw Yuniko sitting on the couch playing Resident Evil 4.

"Welcome back," Yuniko said, not bothering to look away from the TV. "I gotta say, you've some great taste in games."

The Black Wolf player facepalmed. "Geez, I know I told you that you could do whatever you want to pass the time, but did you really have to raid my room?"

"Well you try entertaining yourself when there's hardly anything to do here!" Yuniko scolded as she blew up a zombie with a rocket launcher. "By the way, I noticed some dog hair on your bed this morning, but you don't have a pet. Is there something you're not telling me?"

Frank promptly looked away in embarrassment, catching Kuroba's attention. "N-no."

Yuniko then paused the game and went over to the duo, where she promptly looked Kuroba over with a smug expression.

"So you're the Black King," Yuniko mused, not sounding very impressed. "Did you just come back from a funeral or something? I thought I felt a dark cloud come over the moment you walked in."

Kuroba simply smirked. "And you're just a ray of sunshine," she said sarcastically. "I bet if I hung you on a streetlight, you'd stop traffic."

Frank let out a groan as he pinched the bridge in his nose with his left hand. "Could you two save this for later?" he said in annoyance.

Both girls felt a powerful presence from the Black Wolf player, prompting them to just scoff, but they didn't argue with each other. Eventually Kazuto and the others arrived, prompting them all to gather around the table.

"How about we start this with some introductions?" Kazuto offered. "Red King, why don't you go first by telling us your real name."

"I already told Black Wolf my real name," Yuniko passed off. "But it's Yuniko Kozuki."

"Can you confirm that with your nametag?" Kazuto pressed further. "It's just further proof. You can't forge a quantum code key nametag."

Yuniko groaned in annoyance. "Fine. Here." She then produced a digital nametag that confirmed her identity. "Alright, Graphite Edge, you're next."

"All right. My real name is Kazuto Kirigaya, but you can also call me 'Kirito'." The black-metal type player then revealed his digital nametag as well.

"I'm Asuna Yuuki," the Argent Flash player said while revealing her nametag as well.

"Shino Asada, but I also go by 'Sinon'." Shino also revealed her nametag.

"My name is Frank Storm," the Black Wolf player added as he revealed his nametag as well. "But I also respond to 'Marth'."

Yuniko then eyed Kuroba. "Your turn."

Kuroba smirked before revealing her nametag, however hers read 'Kuroyukihime' instead of her name.

"That is so not your real name!" Yuniko exclaimed in anger.

"Kuroba," Asuna scolded her Legion Master. "How's she gonna trust us if you're going to lie about your identity?"

The Black Lotus player let out a scoff. "Fine. My real name is Kuroba Yukiko." She then materialized her real nametag, which had the correct name on it. Kuroba and Yuniko then traded insults and glared at each other.

"Now then, how about we get this meeting started," Kazuto said calmly, trying to keep the peace. "So then, Red King, how did you manage to find Frank's real identity?"

"I went to all the high schools in your district and applied for a visitor ID pass," the Red King explained. "Then I logged on to each school's local network."

"And then what?" Shino questioned. "All that would do is tell you the names of all the students."

"Then I waited in a spot where I could see the school's gate. I'd sit there and watch as each player left the grounds, then I'd check the matching list. When I saw Black Wolf's name disappear, I knew that I found him."

"But doing that would've cost you a lot Burst Points," Frank commented. "Just how much did you use?"

"A little over two hundred," Yuniko passed off casually.

Kuroba then folded her arms. "So why were you so intent on meeting Frank? Do you have a crush on him or something?"

Yuniko nearly spat out her drink in shock. "Hell no! I couldn't care less about this guy!" She promptly kicked Frank in the knee, prompting him to flinch in pain. Surprisingly, Kuroba also found herself in pain too, and in the same spot, something the Red King didn't notice.

"What I want is his avatar!" Yuniko continued before facing the Silver Aegis. "Black Wolf, I need to borrow your wings, your ability to fly, just this once so I can destroy the Armor of Catastrophe."

Kuroba immediately stood up. "Impossible!" she exclaimed. "That armor was destroyed two and a half years ago. I know because I was there. I witnessed the end of Chrome Disaster and confirmed its destruction myself."

Yuniko glared daggers at the Black King. "Well if that's the case then explain to me why it's shown up again?" the Red King questioned.

The former Alfheim Warriors were confused.

"Uh, what are you guys talking about?" Frank asked nervously. "What the hell is this 'Armor of Catastrophe' and Chrome Disaster?"

Kuroba sat back down and folded her arms across her chest. "Okay, I'll explain but we'll need a few cable cords so we can cable link. It'll be a lot quicker if I show you."

"I have one," Kazuto spoke up, bringing out his one-meter cable from his coat.

"I've got two," Frank added. "One's a meter long while the other's fifty centimeters."

"I have a meter-long cable as well," Kuroba said as she and Frank brought out the cables.

Yuniko then smirked smugly. "Okay, then I'll make do with the super short cable then."

The statement caught both Frank and Kuroba off-guard.

"No way!" Kuroba shouted in protest. "I'll be using that cable!"

Yuniko didn't listen and reached for the fifty-centimeter cable, when suddenly Shino grabbed it instead.

"I think it might be best if I use this cable with Frank," the Aqua Sniper player said as she plugged the cable into her Neuro Linker. "I've known him much longer than either of you, not that I remember, so it shouldn't bother him too much."

"What?!" Kuroba and Yuniko cried out in disbelief while Shino plugged the other end of the cable to Frank's Neuro Linker.

_"Thanks for the save, Sinon,"_ Frank said as he plugged his long cable into his Neuro Linker.

_"You're welcome,"_ Shino replied while trying to keep some distance from the Aegis, which wasn't easy because of how short the cable connecting them was.

Kuroba quickly grabbed Frank's long cable before Yuniko could and plugged it into her Neuro Linker.

"I hate children," Kuroba muttered under her breath.

The others then connected with them through their cables before they all sat down on the floor.

"So… now what?" Kazuto asked. "Are we going to accelerate?"

"No need," Kuroba answered. "Open Direct Link!"

Suddenly Frank and the others found themselves diving into the virtual world, with their appearances becoming their avatars. Yuniko's avatar resembled a prince's suit, with most of it being red and a blue cape, white gloves, and brown boots. Her pigtails were longer and being held by two white bowties.

The group were in a canyon, somewhere in the Accelerated World.

"What the…?" Marth said in confusion.

Suddenly the blue-eyed Spriggan noticed Black Lotus slide down the rocky wall before stopping in front of him.

"What we're seeing is a VR movie, not the Accelerated World," Kuroba explained. "This is a recorded memory from two years ago. I'm transmitting it from my brain to yours."

"Let me guess," Yuniko said. "You're replaying the fight between the Seven Kings of Pure Color and the fourth Chrome Disaster, right?"

"The _fourth_ Chrome Disaster?" Asuna questioned in shock.

Suddenly an earth-shattering roar could be heard in the distance before the group noticed a pillar of light briefly appear from far away. Black Lotus then hurried towards the pillar, prompting the group to hurry after her.

"The name 'Chrome Disaster' originates from a legendary Burst Linker, a player from seven years ago during the early days of the Accelerated World," Kuroba explained as they zoomed past multiple bodies of Burst Linkers scattered across the area. "He was said to be a relentless and brutal fighter. He used unmatched fighting power to bring absolute tyranny but eventually the time came for his rule to end. The highest-level Burst Linkers of that time decided to all band together and brought him down."

Suddenly multiple explosions could be heard in the direction that Black Lotus was heading in.

"Sounds like a major fight's going on there," Kirito commented.

Kuroba nodded in agreement. "Indeed, before he met his demise in the Accelerated World, he screamed a final statement. 'This is not the end! The curse I place on this world will keep me coming back to plague you for eternity!'"

Black Lotus and the group zoomed past players running away in terror.

"He wasn't lying," Kuroba continued. "Even though he had vanished from the Accelerated World, his Enhanced Armament, the Armor of Catastrophe, remained."

"Enhanced Armament?" Marth questioned.

"That's what we call our external items," Yuniko said. "My armored fortress and your swords are some of them."

"Enhanced Armaments are typically items," Kuroba spoke up. "They have no will of their own, but the Armor of Catastrophe was different." Another roar could be heard, and it was louder than the first one.

Marth and the former Alfheim Warriors gasped as the saw the broken bodies of Burst Linkers below them.

"How awful," Sinon said in sorrow.

"The armor somehow possessed one of the Burst Linkers who took part in the execution," Kuroba continued. "In the course of one night, it completely took over the player's mind and transformed him into a brutal monster. This scenario repeated itself three more times. Even when its possessed linker was destroyed, the armor never disappeared. It would simply possess another player and corrupt them as well. This… was the _fourth_ Chrome Disaster."

Black Lotus stopped in front of a crater. Inside where the bodies of multiple Burst Linkers. Right in the center was something that sent shivers down Marth's spine. The creature looked to be made of chrome and resembled a demon with a long neck, but no eyes. It also had a dark aura around it and a large red axe in its right hand.

"That thing looks nothing like the fifth one that's on a rampage right now," Yuniko said.

"That's because the armor changes shape to suit the player's avatar," Kuroba replied. "But the crazed and insane attacks never change."

The group watched as Chrome Disaster approached a large Duel Avatar wearing green armor with yellow jewels on his arms. The Duel Avatar was carrying a large green shield that was shaped like plus sign.

"That's the Green King, Green Grande," Asuna realized. "His Absolute Defense ability has earned him the title of 'The Invulnerable'. They say he's rock solid."

The group then watched as Chrome Disaster roared before charging at the Green King. The metal-type tried attacking him multiple times with its ax, but Green Grande simply blocked all its attacks with his shield and didn't move even an inch.

"Damn, he reminds me of Zelgius and Heathcliff," Marth commented in awe.

Kirito nodded in agreement as he folded his arms. "Yeah. It's the Divine Blade all over again."

Yuniko eyed the Spriggans curiously. "What the hell are you guys talking about?"

Neither of them answered as the group continued to watch Chrome Disaster keep attacking Green Grande, but none of its attacks were making an impact on the Green King.

"Kuroba, is that thing really a Burst Linker?" Marth questioned in shock.

"Unfortunately yes," the Black King confirmed. "Trapped inside that thing is a real person that's just like us."

The group then noticed multiple wounds on the Chrome Disaster that had darkness leaking out.

"Is it wounded?" Sinon asked.

"Yes, he has already gone against the other Kings and is now on the verge of death," Kuroba said. "But even so, it's continues to fight relentlessly."

Suddenly a pink suction-like thing came out of Chrome Disaster's mouth and snuck behind Green Grande.

"Look out!" Marth shouted in worry, forgetting that the Green King couldn't hear him.

Thankfully Black Lotus sprung into action and destroyed the tongue with her bladed arms. The Black King then kneed Chrome Disaster in the chest before finishing it off with an upward kick. Chrome Disaster then shattered into polygons, prompting the group to return to the real world.

"That wasn't the end of it," Kuroba continued as they all removed the cables from their Neuro Linkers. "It continued fighting like that until it finally died. After it died, the other Kings and myself thought that the armor was gone, that it no longer existed in our data storage. The curse should've been broken for good."

"It hasn't," Yuniko said in frustration. "The fact that there's a fifth one rampaging right now shows that you didn't break it."

"So which king fell victim? Who is the fifth one?"

Yuniko lowered her head in shame. "It's not a king," she answered. "It's one of my own. You see… he's a member of the Red Legion, Prominence. He was called Cherry Rook and he was a really good guy. He didn't have any flashy abilities, but he made it to level 6 through hard work. He had a lot of things going for him." The Red King's eyes started to water up.

"But now… Damn it! He's still a member of the Red Legion but he's constantly attacking members of the other legions. He's breaking the Non-aggression Treaty! I've got no choice. I have to finish him."

"Finish him?" Frank questioned before realizing. "You don't mean…"

Yuniko nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, I have to use the Judgement Blow. But I can't get to him. The Judgement Blow is a close-range attack, you have to be right next to them. But this guy's leaping power is totally off the charts. He can easily jump up and escape me."

"So that's why you want Frank's help, or more specifically, Black Wolf's," Kazuto voiced. "You want to use his Black Wolf's aviation ability to combat this Chrome Disaster's leaping ability."

"Exactly," Yuniko said.

"I see," Kuroba mused. "Well, at least we finally understand what you're after."

"Yeah," Frank added. "Luckily for us, I'm not the only one here who can fly." He turned towards Kazuto and smirked. "What do you say, Kirito, think we can take him?"

The Graphite Edge player smirked in anticipation. "You bet. That is if you're okay with it, Kuroba."

"I've got no problem with it," the Black Lotus player replied. "It'll be a good experience for you both."

"Wait Kuroba," Asuna spoke up. "This could be a trap. Don't forget that we're trying to reach level 10, which makes all the other Kings our enemies."

Yuniko glared at the chestnut-haired teen. "What's your problem?! I made contact with you guys face to face, if I did betray you, then you could easily come get me in real life whenever you want."

"True," Kuroba agreed. "It's a little risky, but it does have its upsides. I suppose you have something to sweeten the deal. Something that we get in return."

The Red King let out a groan. "Yeah, of course. I'll tell my crew to leave you guys alone in the Shibuya District, at least for the time being."

"Then we've got a deal. So when and where can this player be found?"

"I'm working on pinpointing his location. We'll know before tomorrow night."

"Alright," Kuroba said. "After school tomorrow, we'll all meet back here."

Frank groaned in annoyance. "Do I have a say in this?"

"Nope."

"Thought so."

Since it was getting late, Kazuto, Asuna and Shino decided to head back home after saying goodbye.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Frank," Kuroba said with a smile.

"How about I walk you home?" the Black Wolf player replied.

"No, I'll be fine."

Yuniko then sneered confidently. "See you later, _princess_! C'mon, Frank, let's get back to the game!" She quickly began running to the living room.

Kuroba immediately halted in her tracks before turning around. "Hold on! Not so fast, kid!" she exclaimed, causing the Red King to stop.

"What now?" the Red King questioned.

"You're not seriously spending another night here, are you?" Kuroba said coldly.

"Of course I am," Yuniko said smugly. "You don't expect me to go home _every_ time, do you? What a pain. And besides, the school I go to is a boarding school. I forged a three-day exit pass so even if I do go back, they don't have any food for me. And speaking of food, what do you want to have for dinner tonight, Frank?" Yuniko then hurried into the kitchen.

"I…I…" Kuroba gritted her teeth in frustration. "That goodbye I said earlier, I take it back! I'm staying over too!" Kuroba took off her shoes and stormed into the kitchen.

Frank simply let out a sigh in exasperation. "Why am I not surprised?" he said while shaking his head.

* * *

Because the kitchen was low on food, Frank, Kuroba and Yuniko decided to go to the store to buy some groceries.

"Hey, are there any good deals going on today?" Yuniko asked as Frank pushed a grocery basket while they walked down the various aisles.

"Just so you know, I'm a lousy cook," Frank said. "Most of the time when my mom is away, I usually spend the night at Kazuto's or have Asuna cook for me."

Kuroba brought her right hand to her chest, right where her core was. "You…and Asuna…alone," she said slowly.

"Y-yeah, but not in the way you think," Frank said quickly. "And she doesn't mind it. Heck, she volunteered to do it."

After going down another aisle, Kuroba picked up a container. "How about this?"

Yuniko looked at what the Black King was holding and reeled back in disgust. "Black squid ink noodle?!" she exclaimed. "Why would I want to eat something as disgusting as that?!"

Kuroba simply smirked smugly. "Oh, my apologies." She then put the container back on the shelf. "For the Red King, how about some red chilly noodles?"

"No way! What's with you and this instant noodle crap?!"

"I don't mind them," Frank voiced, prompting his guardian's smirk to widen.

"See," the Black Lotus player said.

" _Gah_! No wonder you don't know how to cook, Frank!"

Suddenly two parents and their little girl walked past the trio, with the girl asking if they could have meatloaf for dinner.

"Hey, are you guys okay with meatloaf too?" Yuniko asked curiously.

"Uh, sure," Frank replied.

After getting the ingredients to make meatloaf, the trio proceeded to get other groceries.

"Yuniko," Frank muttered under his breath, unfortunately the Red King heard him.

" 'Yuniko's all alone and avoiding school,'" she said mockingly. " 'I bet she wants her parents to spoil her too.' I hope you're not thinking of something stupid like that."

For some reason, Frank found his thoughts turning to a girl with long brown hair with a green-haired Sylph avatar behind her. He simply chuckled in amusement. "Nah," he replied. "You just remind me of someone."

"Oh really. Who?"

"I don't really remember who. My memory's kind of messed up right now."

Yuniko simply shrugged. "Here's a little warning. The more time you play in Brain Burst, the less you care about your life in the real world." She then eyed Kuroba with a smug expression. "If you knew how much time this chick spent in the Accelerated World, it'll blow you away."

_"I know she spent more time in it than I did in Sword Art Online,"_ Frank thought. _"It's no wonder Kuroba's so powerful."_

"So what's your total play time, Yuniko?" Frank questioned.

"I'm not telling you," Yuniko replied. "Why don't you try working it out by yourself. And don't ever call me 'Yuniko'. It makes my damn skin crawl. Niko is fine. Call me 'Niko' and its fine."

"Okay, _Niko_ ," he said smugly.

"Yeah, well don't wear it out!"

* * *

**Later- Frank's Apartment**

After dinner, Kuroba and Yuniko decided to take a shower together, with the former doing it begrudgingly. Frank had already changed into pajamas, which were all black of course. He was staring out at the balcony, seeing a moonlit Tokyo.

"Hey, hurry up and wash my back!" Yuniko demanded.

"What? Do it yourself!" Kuroba protested.

Frank just facepalmed as he heard the girls continue their argument. "O-kay, I'm alone in my apartment with two girls, with one of them being my Driver and the other a temporary ally. Nothing weird about this," he said sarcastically. "None whatsoever." He silently cursed his mother for putting him in this situation. He'll need to talk to her about this when she gets back from her trip.

He heard the bathroom door open and saw Yuniko walk out. She was now wearing red sleepwear and had let her hair down. "Time for popsicles!" Yuniko cheered as she went over to the fridge.

Kuroba then nervously walked out, wearing none other than another pair of Frank's black pajamas, which looked a little big for her, but not by much. Frank felt his cheeks getting warm just from looking at her.

The Black King noticed him staring and quickly blushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry," she said nervously. "I couldn't find anything in my size at the store, so I had to borrow some of yours. I hope you don't mind."

"N-no, it's cool," Frank stuttered out. "Th-they look great on you. Black really suits you."

"Hey Black Wolf," Yuniko spoke up with a popsicle in hand. "Get this, when she's naked you'd be surprised at how…" She didn't get a chance to finish as Kuroba punched her right in the stomach, much to Frank's amusement.

After Yuniko recovered, she went back to playing Resident Evil 4 while Kuroba noticed Frank going to the balcony before he sat on the railing.

"Careful," Kuroba said as she went out to join him. "You might fall off."

It was chilly outside with a good breeze from the east. The city looked very peaceful under the light of the half-moon.

"Relax. If I fall off, I can easily fly back up," Frank answered as Kuroba sat on one of the porch chairs. "Did she see it?"

"No, I somehow managed to keep my core hidden from her," the Black King answered. "You should've warned me that sharing cores would cause us to share each other's pain and injuries."

"Sorry," Frank said sheepishly. "It must've slipped my mind. Luckily that didn't transfer in Brain Burst, otherwise we'd be in big trouble. If it did and people found out about it, they could try to take you down by going after me."

"They'd have to go through me first if that was the case," Kuroba said confidently. "I'm your guardian, it's my duty to protect you. I won't let anything bad happen to you, Frank."

Frank gave the raven-haired girl a genuine smile. "Thanks, and I'll do the same for you, Kuroba."

Unbeknownst to them, Yuniko had overheard most of their conversation. "They really are close," the Red King muttered under her breath. "If only I hadn't…"

**To be continued**

* * *

**Sorry for the late update, again, World of Warcraft has been eating a lot of my spare time lately. Anyway, the Chrome Disaster arc has begun! This will be following the anime one pretty closely, but with some changes to incorperate the new characters. I had initially planned this with Nega Nebulus having another member in their ranks, but that felt a little too soon right now. By the way, I'm sorry if my descriptions for Chrome Disaster suck, the site where I get appearance descriptions doesn't have it. Anyway, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**


	9. Unlimited Burst

**October 22nd, 2056**

Frank and Kuroba had gotten ready for school and were getting ready to leave. Surprisingly, Frank didn't have any nightmares last night. After saying goodbye to Yuniko, who had also gotten dressed, the duo headed for the elevator.

"Well that was fun," Kuroba said. "Maybe I should stay over more often."

"Yeah, but I don't know if my mother would approve," Frank replied slowly.

Kuroba simply giggled and wrapped her arm around her protégé's, much to his embarrassment. "Then I guess I'll just have to meet her," she said casually with a smile. "I'm sure we'd get along swimmingly."

"Seriously, do you just accelerate to come up with these things?!"

"Maybe you're just too slow," Kuroba teased as she released Frank's arm. "Anyway, it's supposed to be cloudy all day. I hope it doesn't rain."

"Storms don't really bother me," Frank answered. "I can make my own lightning, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, you did mention that. Do you think you could show me that sometime?"

"Sure," Frank said as they entered the elevator before he chose the ground floor option.

Kuroba then noticed that Frank's tie was crooked. "Hold still." Without waiting for a reply, she immediately began fixing her protégé's tie.

"Uh, thanks," Frank said nervously.

The Black Lotus player smiled. "It's nothing." As soon as she finished, the elevator doors had opened, revealing none other than Kazuto and Asuna, who looked surprised to see their Legion Master.

"Kuroba, what are you doing here?" Asuna questioned. "You don't live here."

The Black King paused before answering with, "I was concerned that Yuniko might try to pull something on Frank since she was staying with him, so I decided to stay over as well to keep an eye on her."

It took all of Frank's willpower not to facepalm. _"Yeah, like that's the reason why you stayed over!"_

Kazuto raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Really, but I thought we had a temporary truce with the Red King."

"You can never be too cautious," Kuroba answered. "However, it seems that it wasn't needed for this."

Both Kazuto and Asuna didn't look convinced but didn't question it further, which Frank was grateful for.

* * *

Frank, Kuroba, Kazuto, Asuna and Shino met up at the school roof for a private meeting.

"Can we really stop this Chrome Disaster?" Shino questioned nervously. "I mean, it took the Seven Kings of Pure Color to stop it last time."

"We'll be fine," Kuroba assured. "This time we've got the Darkness Duo, the Lightning Flash and the Sniper with us. Chrome Disaster won't know what hits him."

Frank let out an annoyed groan. "I thought I told you not to call me and Kazuto that. We hate that title, and the _other_ ones."

"Sorry, _Dark Swordsman_ ," Kuroba said with a mischievous smirk, causing Frank to just shake his head and the others to laugh at his reaction.

* * *

**Later- Virtual World**

Marth was cutting down the monsters in the arena and made it to level 70. He had fought these monsters so many times that he had memorized all of their attack patterns, allowing him to kill them without putting much effort into his attacks. This allowed him to focus his thoughts on other things, with his thoughts today being about his time back in SAO.

_"Why am I thinking about that now of all times?"_ Marth questioned. _"With all the people I failed to save, I don't deserve to be called a hero."_

Suddenly he remembered what his duplicate said in his dream. _"You can't keep denying your past. Sooner or later, you have to accept who you are."_

"I already know what I am," Marth said quietly, remorse filling his voice. "And I'm no hero."

"I thought I'd find you here."

Marth turned around and saw Kirito right behind him. (Kirito's avatar is his ALO avatar.)

"Hey," Marth greeted as he sheathed his swords.

"Hey. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I've just been thinking a little."

"Let me guess, Sword Art Online."

Marth let out a sigh in defeat. "You always manage to see right through me, Kirito."

Kirito chuckled in amusement. "Well, we do go way back." He then folded his arms. "Still hate your 'Dark Swordsman' title?"

The blue-eyed Spriggan lowered his head in shame. "Yeah. The Dark Swordsman's supposed to be a hero, and I'm not one."

"That's how I feel with my 'Black Swordsman' title," Kirito admitted. "It's funny how similar we are. Maybe that's why we always got along so well."

"Maybe," Marth replied simply. "Or maybe something drew us together the first time."

"I never thought of that, but regardless, I'm glad we became friends. It made things easier by having a partner to rely on. Kuroba may be your Driver, but we'll always be partners."

Marth gave his fellow Spriggan a warm smile. "Yeah."

* * *

Frank went back to his apartment after school let out where he and Yuniko would wait for the others.

"I'm home," Frank said as he entered the apartment and closed the door behind him.

"Welcome back," Yuniko said casually as she scrolled through her messages. "Chrome Disaster hasn't made his move yet, but I've got eyes everywhere. By the way, your mother called. She said she'll be back in the next three days If all goes well, I'll be out of here before then."

"Okay," Frank replied emotionlessly, catching the Red King's attention.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I was just wondering, do you hate Kuroba at all?"

"What do you mean?" Yuniko asked in confusion.

"For what she did. She's the one who killed the previous Red King," Frank explained. "Because of that, she has a huge bounty on her head."

"Oh, yeah, that stuff," the Scarlet Rain player said. "No, I don't really hate her. I'm actually kind of grateful to her."

"Grateful?"

"Yeah, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be the Red King, besides I hardly even knew the previous Red King, so his death didn't really affect that much, if at all. Plus…"

Frank raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Plus…?"

Yuniko threw the Black Wolf player a death glare. "Listen up, don't you dare tell Kuroba I said this or you're gonna face my fortress!"

Frank couldn't help but chuckle in amusement. "Relax, nothing leaves this room."

The Red King then slouched on the couch. "The truth is, I think she's pretty awesome," she confessed. "I respect her bravery. While me and the other Kings are half-heartedly fighting each other, obeying this stupid non-aggression treaty, she's the only one to declare her true goal, reaching level 10. Although, I think the others are probably plotting the same thing, they're just not willing to act on it."

"What about you?" Frank asked curiously. "Are you trying to reach level 10 too?"

"I don't know yet," Yuniko replied. "Between all us Kings, there's a theory that if someone became a level 10 Burst Linker, the result might turn out to be the end of the entire game, and then Brain Burst will automatically uninstall itself, meaning everyone would lost the program at once."

"Really?" Frank said, getting flashbacks of his time in SAO, mainly on its destruction after he and Kazuto cleared it by defeating Heathcliff and Zelgius.

"No one really knows if it's true or not, but to be honest, I don't like to think about it," Yuniko continued. "That's how addicted I am to the Accelerated World. But you know, the fact that so many people are into the game shows you how warped this world has become. Chrome Disaster is a perfect example of that. The reason why Cherry Rook got a hold of the armor in the first place was so he could get to a higher level in a world that's gone dormant because of that stupid treaty." Yuniko hugged her knees close to her chest. "If I were to really come clean about it, it's my fault it happened. I made him do this."

Yuniko gasped when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders, revealing the source to be none other than Frank.

"I know the feeling," the Aegis confessed. "Not wanting the game to end is perfectly natural. And I understand why you want to stay in the game world forever. The thing is, that can never happen."

"What do you mean?" Yuniko questioned, not daring to pull away from the teen.

Frank had a flashback where he, Kirito, Asuna and Yuuki watched Aincrad's destruction after they cleared Sword Art Online.

"Everything has to come to an end eventually, even Brain Burst," Frank explained. "If the ending for Brain Burst causes us to lose our acceleration powers forever, then that's it. Sometimes the final fate of a game isn't what we think it is, I know this from experience. It's just something we can't completely control."

Yuniko was curious what Frank meant by experience. As far as she knew, he didn't play any other VRMMOs. _"Come to think of it, his avatar looks really familiar,"_ she thought. _"I know I've seen it somewhere, but where?"_

* * *

Kuroba, Kazuto, Asuna and Shino had arrived. The group tried to find ways to pass the time until Yuniko got an alert.

"He's on the move," the Red King spoke up, catching everyone's attention. "Cherry Rook just boarded the Saitama Trainline. If he's following his usual route, he'll hunting in Ikebukerou (I don't know if that's how you spell it so feel free to correct me)."

"Understood," Kuroba said. "So how should we get there? Do we go through the virtual world or real?"

"I say virtual," Yuniko replied. "With the six of us, we should be able to avoid running into an enemy, and even if we do, I'm sure we can handle them."

"She makes a good point," Kazuto agreed. "Besides, it would take us too long for us to reach Cherry Rook in the real world. Finding him in the virtual world is the best way to stop him."

"Very well," the Black King said before eyeing her protégé. "Marth, do you remember the voice command I taught you when you reached level 4?"

"What voice command?" Frank said. "Just kidding. Of course I remember it. So that's where we'll fight this guy?"

Kuroba nodded in acknowledgement. "Yes, in the _true battlefield_ for Burst Linkers like us. It'll cost us all ten points though."

"Kirito and I just clobbered a few players the other day, so I should have plenty of Burst Points."

"We're wasting time just talking here," Asuna spoke up. "It's time we destroy the fifth Chrome Disaster and end this curse once and for all."

"Yeah," the others agreed.

"Unlimited Burst!" everyone said in sync.

The Nega Nebulus members and the Red King found themselves in a black building in the Accelerated World. They all looked out and saw a futuristic city before them.

"Whoa," Black Wolf said in awe. "So this is the Unlimited Neutral Field."

"Indeed," Black Lotus replied. "This is where we hunted down the previous Chrome Disasters. By the way, have you noticed anything different?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, there's no timer. I guess they can't call it 'Unlimited' if had a time limit."

"That's right," Scarlet Rain said. "Once you're here, it's possible to stay forever, but you have to be level 4 or higher to enter. One day in the real world would be three years here in the Accelerated World. Pretty tempting right?"

"Pass," Black Wolf said nonchalantly, catching both his guardian and the Red King by surprise. "I've more than had my fill of spending entire years in a virtual world. I've got no interest in spending more time than necessary here."

Only the Nega Nebulus members realized that he was referring to his time being trapped in Sword Art Online.

"I hear you, Marth," Graphite Edge agreed. "I feel the exact same way."

"Just out of curiosity," Aqua Sniper spoke up, "what happens if you stay here for long periods of time."

"It depends on how much real time passes," Black Lotus explained. "If it's a few days, then you'll just miss a few appointments. However, if you spend half a year or even a month here, you'll come back a completely different person. Your body may not age, but your soul will."

"No way," the sniper replied in disbelief.

"Let's stay focused," Scarlet Rain said. "We should get moving. At the moment we accelerated, we had two minutes in real time before Cherry's train was due to arrive at its stop in Ikebukerou. We still have plenty of time to get there, but…"

"But how are we going to get there?" Black Wolf questioned.

The Red King turned towards the Aegis. "Do I have to spell it out for you?"

"Huh?"

Scarlet Rain tackled Black Wolf, though not enough to throw him off-balance, and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You'll hold me tight and carry me won't you?" she said sweetly.

"What?!" Black Wolf shouted in disbelief.

Suddenly Black Lotus's eyes flashed under her visor, making her protégé nervous.

"You have got to be joking," the Black King said venomously. "If he's holding anyone, it'll be _me_! I mean after all, look what I have for limbs! You, Rain, can catch a ride by holding his legs or you can fly with Kirito."

"Forget that!" Scarlet Rain argued. "It's your fault your avatar's like that. Besides, I know you have hands so you can just grab his legs instead or you can catch up by train."

"Oh very funny! I almost forgot to laugh!"

"Uh girls," Graphite Edge said slowly, noticing his best friend's unease. "Maybe we should…"

"No one asked you, _Edge_!" Scarlet Rain exclaimed.

"Yeah, butt out, Kirito!" Black Lotus added.

Graphite Edge just sulked in the corner with Argent Flash trying to comfort him. "Sorry Marth, I tried."

"Now, now," Argent Flash said. "Yuniko reminds me a lot of Lisbeth. I wonder if she's around somewhere."

"Who knows?" Aqua Sniper replied as she watched the two Kings continue their argument. "Marth looks like he'd rather be anywhere but here."

"I don't blame him," Argent Flash said.

"So what's it gonna be, Black Wolf?" Scarlet Rain questioned.

"Yeah, tell us, Marth," Black Lotus said fiercely.

" _Gah_!" the dual-wielder exclaimed as he held his head in frustration. "Will you girls give me a moment to just think?!"

* * *

It was "decided" that Black Wolf would carry both Black Lotus and Scarlet Rain while Graphite Edge carried Argent Flash and Aqua Sniper. Unfortunately, the two Kings refused to stop their petty argument, which was getting on Black Wolf's last nerves.

"If you guys don't stop your bickering right now, you'll both get a one-way ticket to the ground!" Black Wolf threatened.

"You wouldn't!" the duo argued. They immediately paled when Black Wolf's grip on them loosened just slightly.

"No, don't!" Scarlet Rain exclaimed in fear as she and Lotus desperately clung to the flying avatar so they wouldn't plummet. "I'll be good, just please don't drop me!"

"I'm your partner, Marth!" Black Lotus added. "Is this how you treat your partners?!"

"Not really," Graphite Edge said. "That just shows how ticked off he is."

"Piece of advice," Argent Flash voiced in amusement, "Marth may not get angry that much, but when he does, you better run and hide. His rage isn't something you want to mess with."

"You got that right," Aqua Sniper agreed, not even trying to hide her smirk, which made the Kings flinch as they pictured a very angry Marth cutting down his foes with no mercy.

Scarlet Rain chuckled nervously before saying, "Uh, n-nice view we have, right, Kuroba?"

"Y-yes," Black Lotus replied slowly, trying not to provoke her Blade even further. "It r-really shows that this world goes on as far as the eye can see." She could sense Black Wolf's rage slowly dissipate as he restored his grip on her and Scarlet Rain, much to their relief.

"So this is what the Accelerated World really looks like?" Black Wolf questioned. "And it exists right next to the real world. A permanent one, not some temporary stage."

"Yes," Black Lotus said, regaining her composure as her fear of falling faded away. "This is the _true_ Burst Linker battlefield. If you're aiming to reach level 9, you too will have to fight on this battlefield someday and win. However, that time is not yet here."

Suddenly a feral roar filled the air.

"What was that?" Black Wolf exclaimed.

The group looked down and saw a few Burst Linkers fighting a weird squid-like monster.

"Looks like the hunt's about to start," Graphite Edge said. "Just like in other MMOs, the Unlimited Neutral Field has monsters that you can battle inside it. Aside from duels, killing monsters are the only way for you to get any Burst Points here. But even if you take down a huge monster, the most you'll get are ten Burst Points."

"Are you serious?" Aqua Sniper said in shock.

"That's because the hunt is just a small part of Brain Burst," Scarlet Rain answered. "Keep in mind, Brain Burst is still primarily a fighting game. However, because of the treaty, the hunt is the only way for players to reach the highest levels."

"But there are still other ways to level up," Argent Flash intervened. "You can still hunt other Burst Linkers here and get tons of Burst Points."

"Yes, but because of the Non-Aggression Treaty, high-level Burst Linkers rarely leave their own territories," Black Lotus explained. "But when they do leave and come here to hunt, they can fight one another for as long as they want."

"I see," Black Wolf replied.

"That's exactly what Cherry Rook, I mean Chrome Disaster, is doing," Scarlet Rain added. "We almost at Ikebukerou, but it's a very big place so finding him won't be easy."

Suddenly both Black Wolf and Graphite Edge felt a cold sensation run down their spines, their Hypersense. They immediately moved to dodge several projectiles while the girls clung desperately to them as they tried not to get thrown off.

"Is that Chrome Disaster?" Argent Flash exclaimed.

"It can't be," Scarlet Rain replied. "I timed it so we'd get here before him! And plus he doesn't have any long range attacks."

The flying avatars locked eyes and silently agreed that they had to land since it was too risky to remain in the sky. They began descending towards a large crater before Scarlet Rain noticed several missiles zoom past them before circling around. She and Aqua Sniper materialized a handgun (which matched their color scheme) and fired a few rounds at the missiles, taking out most of them, however they missed two of them.

"Damn it!" Aqua Sniper cursed as the two missiles sailed towards the boys.

Black Lotus and Argent Flash promptly destroyed the remaining weapons with their bladed limbs/rapier respectively, unfortunately the explosion that followed suit caused the boys to lose their momentum and promptly begin plummeting to the ground.

"Pull up! Pull up!" Scarlet Rain shouted desperately.

"We're trying!" Graphite Edge exclaimed as he and his partner tried to regain control of their descent, but they failed badly as they all crashed into the crater, which had multiple metal pillars in it.

"Is everyone okay?" Black Lotus asked as she stood up.

"Yeah," Black Wolf replied as he and Graphite Edge's wings disappeared. "Somehow."

"That was too close for comfort," Graphite Edge said. "Where the hell did that attack come from?"

As if on que, the group noticed multiple Burst Linkers surround the edge of the crater, effectively trapping them within it.

"Who are these guys?" Argent Flash questioned as she and the others got up and drew their weapons.

"I don't know, but I doubt they're friendly," Aqua Sniper replied as she readied her Hecate rifle.

Suddenly they noticed a yellow Duel Avatar that resembled a clown appear. He wore a yellow clown suit with two horns, along with a white mask with a pink mark on the left eye.

"A clown?" Black Wolf said.

"It's Yellow Radio," Scarlet Rain said in disbelief. "Why's the Yellow King here?"

"Yellow King? Wait, _he's_ a level 9 Burst Linker?!"

"But the Yellow Legion's territory isn't anywhere near here," Graphite Edge voiced. "So what's he doing in Ikebukerou? Unless…"

"You bastard!" Scarlet Rain shouted in outrage. "You set this up, Yellow Radio! This was all you!"

The Yellow King simply chuckled smugly as his legion surrounded the crater.

**To be continued**

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait, I had real world issues to deal with so I didn't have a lot of opportunities to write. Anyway, Marth and the others have gotten ambushed by the Yellow Legion. How are they gonna get out of this mess and will they be able to stop Chrome Disaster? You'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out!**


	10. The Yellow King

"You bastard!" Scarlet Rain shouted in outrage at the Yellow King. "You set this up, Yellow Radio! This was all you!"

Yellow Radio simply chuckled in amusement. "What's this? Why if isn't the Red King. What a pleasant surprise."

"Don't play all innocent with me!" Scarlet Rain shouted, her tone not changing. "You were lying in wait for us!"

_"Scarlet's right,"_ Black Wolf thought to himself. _"One second in real time is nearly seventeen minutes here. There's no way you can run into other players like this unless you plan ahead of time."_

"There must be some misunderstanding," Yellow Radio passed off in mock innocence. "I'm only here because one of _your_ members has been attacking my subordinates, stripping them of all their Burst Points. That's a violation of the Non-Aggression Treaty. Someone must take responsibility."

Black Wolf gritted his teeth in anger as he connected the dots in his head. "I get it now. Yellow Radio must have kept a piece of the Armor of Catastrophe after Black Lotus killed the last Chrome Disaster. Then he gave it to Cherry Rook to lure out Scarlet Rain and ambush her."

Yellow Radio looked impressed. "Wow, for being Black Lotus's mutt, you sure are perceptive," the Yellow King said arrogantly. "However, without any proof, those are just claims."

"What did you just call me?!" Black Wolf retorted angrily. For a brief moment, Black Lotus could've sworn she saw a spark of purple lightning emit from her protégé's right sword.

"In any case, do I need to remind you of what the treaty states, Scarlet Rain?" Yellow Radio continued. "In the event that a legion member has their program forcibly uninstalled due to an attack that directly violates the treaty, that legion is given the power to choose any player from the _offending_ legion and ensure that they meet the exact same fate. And it just so happens that the person we picked for the punishment is _you_ , Scarlet."

The Red King clenched her fists in frustration.

"This isn't some punishment for violating a treaty," Aqua Sniper spoke up quietly as she clutched her Hecate tightly. "Yellow Radio must be doing this so he can take down Niko so he can reach level 10. Remember, in order to reach level 10, you need to take down five level 9 Burst Linkers. If the Yellow King kills Scarlet Rain, she'll lose Brain Burst and he'll be one step closer to reaching the highest level in the game."

"That lousy snake," Scarlet Rain muttered bitterly before speaking up. "So you're just following the rules, huh, Radio?"

"Exactly," Yellow Radio replied. "I'm glad you understand."

"Yeah, but the treaty also states this. You can choose anyone you wish for revenge, except in an instance where the Legion Master themselves has punished the offending player by stripping them of all their points."

"Very true. But there's a little rumor going around that you tried to do that and failed spectacularly."

The Red King scoffed.

"Of course, you're free to try again," Yellow Radio added, not even trying to hide his condescending tone. "But when will the culprit we speak of appear? And when will you actually punish him? If you can't do it immediately, then I'm afraid we have no choice but to make do with you."

Black Wolf observed the members of the Yellow Legion and gritted his teeth as he couldn't find any opening for them to exploit.

"There's too many of them," the Silver Aegis said. "Is it possible for us to log out so we can get away?"

"Afraid not," Graphite Edge said in disappointment. "In order to log out of the Unlimited Neutral Field, you need to go to specific leave points. And the only ones near us involve us going through the Yellow Legion."

"Damn it. I was afraid of that."

Argent Flash tightened her grip on her rapier. "What are we going to do?" she questioned.

"Relax, Asuna," Scarlet Rain reassured. "We still have a chance at winning this thing."

The rapier-user eyed the Red King curiously. "Really? How?"

"You see, the crew that bastard made was built to hunt me down," Scarlet Rain explained. "He didn't expect me to bring help, much less from another King."

The former Alfheim Warriors gasped as they remembered that their Legion Master was also a King. Unfortunately, Yellow Radio caught on to that as well.

"It's been quite a while, Black Lotus," the Yellow King said smugly. "I'd appreciate it if you'd kindly step aside on this one and enjoy the show that's about to unfold."

Rather than take his advice, Black Lotus pointed her right bladed arm at him. "You must be joking, Yellow Radio!" she rebuked. "Why should I bother going along with one of your silly little games?"

"My goodness, so rebellious," Yellow Radio replied, his voice containing an arrogant tone in it while he pulled out a yellow card from his outfit. "And after all the trouble I went through to prepare this little gift for you." He tossed the card into the crater, where it landed in front of the Black Legion and Scarlet Rain. As soon as it touched the ground, it produced a hologram containing the Seven Kings of Pure Color. One of which was a red Duel Avatar that resembled a cowboy.

"That's Red Rider, the first Red King!" Scarlet Rain realized.

"No way, that's him?" Black Wolf questioned in disbelief. He then noticed his guardian begin to tremble in fear.

"My fellow Kings," Red Rider said in the recording, "I ask you again, is this really what we want? Betraying and killing each other all for some stupid goal. It's not right. Yes, we lead legions and fight one another, but that's because we consider each other to be worthy rivals, not enemies."

The first Red King turned towards the Black King, who was right beside him. "Lotus, I have a great deal of respect for the way you fight," he continued. "It reminds me so much about the stories of the Darkness Duo, otherwise known as Marth and Kirito, two people that I admire."

Both Black Wolf and Graphite Edge gasped as they heard their names, something that Scarlet Rain noticed.

"You mean you actually believe those stories, Rider?" Purple Thorn said bitterly. "There's no way they could have existed, especially that Marth guy."

Red Rider turned towards his girlfriend and said, "The Demon War was real, as well as the SAO Incident. If those events actually happened, then it's possible that both Marth and Kirito existed, including their allies." He returned his focus to the Black King. "Anyway, Lotus, I bet if we were to meet in the real world, we'd be friends. In fact, I'd like that. That's why I have no desire to fight you in a sudden-death duel. Come on, I know you feel the same."

That seemed to tick off the Purple King. "Are you flirting with that woman in front of me, Rider?!"

Naturally, Red Rider was taken aback by the accusation. "Whoa. Easy there, babe," he said sheepishly. "I-I didn't mean it like that. Sorry."

"You're right, Rider," Black Lotus, (the hologram one), said, catching him by surprise. "Just as you, I also admire the Darkness Duo and believe that they existed. I even tried basing my fighting style on theirs with some degree of success. Anyway, just as you respect me, I respect you as a King."

If Red Rider had a mouth, Black Wolf assumed that he would be smiling right now. "Of all people, Lotus, I knew you'd understand." Red Rider reached out to shake the Black King's hand, but quickly remembered about her bladed limbs.

"Oh, my apologies," Black Lotus said. "Let's try this instead." She proceeded to wrap her arms around Red Rider's neck, almost like a hug.

"Uh," Red Rider said nervously, but Purple Thorn looked furious. However, Black Wolf got a bad vibe since he knew his guardian's Duel Avatar did have hands.

"You little bitch!" the Purple King shouted angrily.

"I-it's okay, Thorn," Red Rider said with a stutter as he tried to calm his girlfriend. "Don't get mad. It's just her way of shaking hands."

Suddenly Black Lotus's eyes flashed purple from under her visor. "Death By Embracing!" she exclaimed.

The viewers gasped in shock as they watched Black Lotus decapitate the Red King with her blades, much to the other Kings' disbelief and Purple Thorn's anguish. The recording then faded away.

"Unbelievable," Aqua Sniper said in shock. "Was that really how the first Red King died?"

Yellow Radio then let out a cynical laugh. "The good old times."

"Stop it," Black Lotus said desperately, causing her legion to face her. "Stop it. Stop it." The Black King's silver crystal began flickering as despair overtook her.

"Kuroba!" Black Wolf said in worry.

"Marth," Black Lotus said slowly as she eyed her protégé. She let out a whimper in sorrow. "No. Don't look at me." Suddenly the Black King collapsed on the ground as her crystal went dark.

"Kuroba!" Black Wolf exclaimed as he hurried to his Driver before he cradled her in his arms, causing both Lunara and Solaris to drop to the ground. "What's wrong?! What happened?!"

"Zero Fill," Scarlet Rain said grimly. "Lotus… I had no idea."

Suddenly Yellow Radio could be heard cackling madly. "I thought that betrayal might still weigh heavy on her," the Yellow King said arrogantly. "And to think someone as weak as her was aiming for level 10. What a joke. Hahaha!"

"Shut up!" Black Wolf shouted in anger.

"Huh?"

Purple electricity began emitting from Black Wolf's body, but it didn't seem to bother him or Lotus.

"You took advantage of Black Lotus's past for your own benefit," the Aegis said bitterly as he threw a death glare at the Yellow King, which made the latter flinch. "I'll make you pay for that!"

Yellow Radio could sense an abnormal power coming from inside the level 4 Burst Linker. "This power… How could such a low-level player have such power?" He shook his head to calm his nerves before raising his right arm. "Prepare to attack!"

The Yellow Legion readied their weapons and aimed them at the group.

"Tch," Scarlet Rain said. "Fine. Bring it on! Enhanced…"

"No, don't do it, Niko!" Argent Flash spoke up quickly. "If you activate your weaponry now, you'll be stuck here."

"Asuna's right," Graphite Edge agreed. "Our best option is to retreat and head for the Sunshine City Leave Point."

The Red King grunted in annoyance, realizing that they were right.

"Marth, me and Asuna will act as cover," Graphite Edge. "You take care of Kuroba."

"Are you insane?!" Black Wolf argued. "Have you forgotten that your element is graphite? Your defenses are abysmal. If you take too many hits, you'll be torn apart."

Graphite Edge gritted his teeth in hesitation. "I know, but if they defeat Niko, then they'll definitely go after Kuroba next. No matter what, we can't let that happen!"

Black Wolf grunted in frustration as he sheathed his swords before picking up his guardian, bridal style. "Fine."

Yellow Radio then swung his hand down as he shouted, "Get them!"

Suddenly the Yellow Legion began to attack by launching projectiles at the group, prompting them to run. Thanks to her small size, Scarlet Rain proved to be very nimble and managed to avoid all the attacks thrown at her. Both Argent Flash and Aqua Sniper managed to avoid getting hit as well. However, while Black Wolf was fast and had a high strength stat, he was still held down by carrying Black Lotus and got hit in the shoulder by a stray energy blast, damaging the armor around it.

" _Gah_!" Black Wolf cried out as he felt an enormous amount of pain from the attack. "What the…?"

"Be careful, Marth!" Graphite Edge exclaimed. "Our pain sensitivity is doubled while we're in here."

Suddenly multiple missiles suddenly descended towards him and Scarlet Rain. Aqua Sniper tried to take them out with her Hecate but there were too many and some of them managed to hit the duo.

"Crap!" Aqua Sniper cursed. "Are you guys okay?!"

Scarlet Rain looked just fine, however Graphite Edge wasn't so lucky as his chest armor looked cracked and was on his knees.

"Kirito!" Argent Flash cried out in worry.

"I-I'm okay," Graphite Edge replied. "Just keep moving."

The group then continued moving towards the edge of the crater while trying to dodge more projectiles.

_"Just a little further, then Kirito and I can fly everyone out of here,"_ Black Wolf thought as he and the black metal-type summoned their wings.

Yellow Radio then let out a cackle. "Oh, no you don't. Silly Go Round!" Suddenly the Yellow King formed a clear sphere of energy in his hands before the Black Legion and Scarlet Rain found the crater to be spinning.

"What the hell is going on?" Black Wolf questioned as a merry-go-round appeared around the group.

"The field's spinning!" Aqua Sniper exclaimed.

"It's not!" Scarlet Rain replied. "It only looks that way. This is an illusion that Yellow Radio created. You just need to close your eyes and run!"

"Look out!" Graphite Edge jumped in front of the Red King and used his body to shield her from a volley of missiles, which badly damaged his armor and his helmet before he fell to his knees again.

"Kirito!" Argent Flash shouted in worry.

"I-I'm fine, Asuna," the metal-type struggled to say.

"Hang in there, Graphite Edge," Scarlet Rain said. "Radio's special move will be over in thirty seconds. Just stay strong and last it out."

" _Gah_!" Graphite Edge cried out in pain as he found himself impaled in the stomach by a large blade before being lifted off the ground by a green avatar.

"Ha, ha, I heard you were strong, Graphite Edge," the avatar mocked. "But it seems that was nothing more than talk. Remember this before you die, the name of the player that beat you was Sax…"

The black-eyed dual wielder let out a groan. "I don't care what your name is," Graphite Edge declared as he dropped his swords before grabbing the end of the blade and forcing himself off it, ignoring the pain he felt from the action, and crashed on the ground.

"Kirito!" Black Wolf shouted.

The metal-type looked his best friend in the eye with a resolved face. "Marth, Asuna, Sinon, the rest is up to you, now go!" Graphite Edge quickly grabbed his swords before activating Vorpal Strike with his right sword, killing the green avatar, however, the avatar was able to strike him in the chest, taking out the rest of Graphite Edge's HP as well.

The Black Legion members were stunned as they saw two avatar respawn marks appear where the two dead avatars were.

"No," Argent Flash said in disbelief.

Black Wolf gritted his teeth before looking down at his guardian, who was still unconscious in his arms. "Come on, Kuroba," he said desperately. "Why won't you wake up?!"

"It's no use, Black Wolf," Scarlet Rain said. "She's in Zero-Fill state right now. The signal her soul generates and transmits to her avatar has been shut down and zeroed out. When a Burst Linker loses their will to fight, they can't control their Duel Avatar. If you're not strong enough to face your own emotional scars, then you won't even have the strength to stand up. That's the kind of game Brain Burst is."

"Emotional scars?" Black Wolf said. He found his thoughts focusing on his time in SAO, but quickly dismissed them because he knew that if he didn't, he'd end up in the same state as the Black King.

"You guys should get out of here," Scarlet Rain continued. "I know Kirito sacrificed himself to buy us time but running from a fight has never been my style."

Black Wolf smirked. "Me, neither. Besides, it's wrong for me to leave a friend behind just to save myself."

"Did you just say 'friend'? You've got to be kidding me. Just how naïve are you?"

"Less than you think," Aqua Sniper said as she readied her Hecate. "I say we take a stand. Now that Yellow Radio used up his special move, all we have to worry about is his minions, which we should be able to handle."

The Red King simply shrugged. "Suit yourselves." She then pointed directly at the Yellow King. "Yellow Radio, I'm guessing you pretty much exhausted your special move gauge, which means it's my turn to put on a show. And remember, if _I_ destroy you, then you will be banished from here forever!"

Yellow Radio gasped in surprise as he took a step back.

"Let's go. Enhanced Armament!" Suddenly a red fortress appeared around the Red King. It had multiple cannons and exhaust vents. "All right, Black Wolf, Argent Flash, Aqua Sniper, take care of the close-range combat fighters who like to climb up my ass. And if they defeat me, I want you guys to take Lotus to safety."

"Got it," Argent Flash replied.

Most of the Yellow Legion began to panic as they saw the red fortress.

"What are you so scared of?" Yellow Radio spoke up. "That's just one big, immovable fort. Get close enough and it's nothing more than a hunk of iron. Now stop being afraid of it and attack!"

That speech seemed to do it as the melee Yellow Legion members began to enter the crater and charge at the group while the ranged ones began to open fire at them.

Scarlet Rain simply chuckled. "Get ready, you little bastards, because you're about to find out what it's like to suffer the wrath of the Red King!"

She promptly fired a volley of missiles at the melee fighters, injuring most of them, but two of them managed to avoid them, only to die from a laser attack from her fortress. The Nega Nebulus members watched as the Red King fired all her weapons at the Yellow Legion, leading to a series of explosions.

"Does she really need our help?" Aqua Sniper questioned.

"I'm a little more concerned that Niko seems to be enjoying this a little too much," Argent Flash said before eyeing the dual wielder. "You ready?"

"Yeah." Black Wolf then set his guardian down but didn't draw his swords. Suddenly a dark aura surrounded him as he let out a howl before unleashing a blinding light. When the light died down, it revealed a metallic black wolf in his place. It had white markings around it and Black Wolf's Core Crystal could be seen on its chest.

"What the…?" Yellow Radio said in shock.

"Now I know why he's called Black _Wolf_ ," the Red King mused. "Interesting."

The Nega Nebulus members then split up to cover multiple spots. One avatar with a magnet foolishly charged at Black Wolf to try and draw the wolf over to him but was shocked when Black Wolf simply disappeared from sight. The player then flinched as he heard something snarling behind him. He turned around and paled as he saw Black Wolf behind him, barring his teeth at him.

"Uh, nice doggy," the player said nervously. Black Wolf simply pounced on him and bit into his neck, severing his head and killing the player.

_"Care to remind me what Marth did again?"_ Aqua Sniper questioned, making sure Scarlet Rain didn't hear despite being an ally, as she switched to a bow and arrow so she could hit more targets at once before firing a few arrows at enemy players. _"My memory's drawing a blank right now."_

_"It's called Wolf Heart,"_ Argent Flash said as she knocked a player with a drill off of the Red King's fortress with Linear. _"It allows Marth to change into a wolf at will, increasing his attack power and speed at the cost of his defense."_

_"I see. That does sound about right, but I feel like Wolf Heart does something else for him too."_

The archer watched as Black Wolf was fighting an avatar with large fists. Aqua Sniper was worried for the wolf since his physical defense was rather low. In fact, she was about to knock an arrow and aim at the player her teammate was fighting when Black Wolf fired a blast of purple lightning from his mouth, vaporizing the player.

Scarlet Rain chuckled in amusement. "You really are mysterious, Black Wolf. I've never seen a Burst Linker like you before."

Black Wolf simply chuckled. "You could say that."

The Red King noticed another barrage of missiles heading towards them, prompting her to fire her own to intercept. However, a sonic wave filled the air, causing her missiles to trail off, allowing the enemy missiles to continue towards the group, unhindered. The Nega Nebulus members somehow managed to avoid getting blown up while Black Wolf switched back to his human form.

"Damn it," Scarlet Rain cursed. "They've got a jammer. Find them! It's most likely a yellow-color Linker."

"Got it," Black Wolf said. He was about to go looking for the jammer when suddenly a cable wrapped around his ankle, causing him to trip and fall.

The cable was attached to an enemy Burst Linker, who promptly said, "Electric Therapy!" Suddenly an electric current began running through the cable and began to electrocute the dual wielder.

"Marth!" Argent Flash exclaimed in worry. She tried going to his aid when suddenly she found herself bound by ropes from another Burst Linker.

Aqua Sniper, on the other hand, found herself surrounded by enemies. _"Crap. If only Kirito and Kuroba were here right now."_

The player that was electrocuting Black Wolf cackled in amusement. "Why don't you just stay down for a little bit, kid? At least until we're finished stripping the Red King!"

True to his word, the other Yellow Legion members were beginning to swarm Scarlet Rain's fortress and were starting to tear it apart.

"Shit!" the Red King cursed as they were too close for her to take out.

Meanwhile Yellow Radio seemed to enjoy the sight he was seeing. "What a pathetic and unseemly sight!" he mocked. "There's not even a shred of royal dignity. I suppose that's what you'd expect, though, from an upstart and three weaklings."

Despite feeling incredible pain from the electricity, Black Wolf managed to gather his thoughts as part of Scarlet Rain's fortress was slow getting torn apart. _"This is bad,"_ he thought to himself. _"At this rate, the Yellow Legion will kill Niko and Kuroba. Wait, Kuroba!"_

Somehow, Black Wolf managed to turn his head towards his guardian, who was still lying unconscious on the ground. "L-Lotus! We could really use you right now!" he shouted desperately. "Are you just gonna let this happen?! Let it all end like this?! Answer me! Didn't you tell me you wanted to reach level 10? Sure, you did something bad, but are you really going to let it stop you from achieving your dream?! All because of one thing?! You swore to me that you would meet every obstacle face-on, that you would take down every opponent and keep pushing on until you were the last one standing! Come on, Black Lotus, wake up!"

Suddenly a loud humming could be heard, catching everyone's attention as they turned towards the Black King. Black Lotus's body was then surrounded by a purple aura and her Core Crystal flared to life as her body picked itself off the ground and her eyes opened. The Black King had returned, much to Yellow Radio's shock.

"Kuroba?" Black Wolf said slowly.

Black Lotus turned to her protégé and gave him a warm smile. "Thank you, Marth," she said as her aura faded, but her core's light didn't die down. "You made me realize that I can't allow the past to keep affecting me. If I'm going to move on, then I'll have to face what I did head-on. Now are you gonna keep lying there or are you gonna get back up?"

Black Wolf chuckled in amusement. "So you knew about _that_ move too? All right. Thor's Fury!"

Storm clouds began to gather in the sky, letting out bolts of purple lightning.

"What the?" one Yellow Legion member said in fear. "Did that guy just summon a storm on his own?!"

One bolt managed to strike Black Wolf, but it didn't hurt him. Instead, it restored his HP and used the cable as a conduit to short circuit the enemy player's special move.

"Oh, crap," the player said in shock.

"Think you can handle the rest on your own?" Black Lotus asked as the dual wielder picked himself up.

"Yeah, I think the others need some help."

"Very well. Good luck." Black Lotus charged towards the player that was binding Argent Flash. The player tried to grapple her too, but his ropes were severed by her limbs.

"Sorry," the Black King said. "But grappling moves really aren't the best tactics to use on me." She easily killed the Burst Linker, freeing Argent Flash.

"Thanks, Lotus," the white Duel Avatar said. "It's good to have you back."

"Marth is pretty persuasive," Black Lotus added. "Do you think you can help Sinon out?"

"Sure. I think the Red King might need a little help though."

The two girls split up to help their comrades, but Black Lotus found herself surrounded, which caused her to smirk. "I harbor no grudge against you," she said confidently. "But that said, if any of you tries to fight me, I can pretty much guarantee that at the very least, you'll lose a limb or two." Black Lotus activated her bladed arms, causing them to extend to the length of Lunara and Solaris. "And on top of that, it'll be twice as painful on this field. But it's too late to back down, isn't it?"

The Black King sprang into action and cut down her opponents with ease before hurrying to Scarlet Rain. Argent Flash managed to get to Aqua Sniper, and they began tag teaming the enemy that surrounded them. Meanwhile Black Wolf had sheathed his swords and was swinging the player that electrocuted him by his cable.

"Time out!" the player cried out desperately as the black avatar was swinging him like a rag doll. "I'm in the middle of charging my battery!"

"Does it look like I care?!" Black Wolf shouted as he threw the player far away.

"Not really!" the player shouted back before crashing into a building that was far outside of the crater, which most likely killed him.

Black Wolf then turned and watched as his guardian cut down anyone that dared to get in her way with incredible speed. _"She really amazing,"_ he thought. _"She almost reminds me of…"_ Black Wolf suddenly found memories of Yuuki flood into him, nearly causing him to tremble as the guilt and grief resurfaced. It took all he had to not Zero-Fill like Black Lotus did.

Meanwhile, Yellow Radio looked shocked at the Black King's assault. "Why?! Why are you doing this, Black Lotus? You've been hiding all these years, so why appear now and get in my way?!"

Black Lotus turned and stared at the Yellow King in silence.

"Have you already forgotten what you've done in the past?" Yellow Radio continued. "You betrayed our friend, Red Rider, by beheading him!" He let out a fake sob. "Oh, that poor man. What do you suppose he's doing now? Could he be sitting somewhere, yearning for the world that he can no longer return to? Or maybe he curses the person responsible for his misery. I know that's something I'd never be able to forget. It might have been easier to take if it had been a fair fight, but a sneaky surprise attack?"

"Clearly you didn't pay attention to what I said earlier," Black Lotus retorted as her protégé moved to her side. "I said that I have to face what I did to Red Rider and I won't let it stop me from protecting my friends. Besides, there's one important factor you're missing, Yellow Radio."

"Oh, really. What's that?"

"You're assuming that taking your head will bother me as much as taking Red Rider's. But it won't. And here's yet another thing that you have failed to completely comprehend." Black Lotus pointed her right arm at the Yellow King in a threatening manner. "Ever since we've first met, I've hated you!"

Yellow Radio let out a grunt in fear as Black Lotus charged at him at high speed.

"Rain, use your remaining ammo on the enemies around us!" Black Lotus ordered. "Wolf, Flash, Sniper, cover her. Radio's mine!"

"Damn it," Scarlet Rain cursed. "She makes sound so easy. Sniper, can you take out that jamming signal?"

Aqua Sniper switched her bow and quiver out with her Hecate. "Leave it to me. Wolf, Flash, cover me!"

The blue avatar scanned the area through her rifle's lens while her allies kept the enemies' attention on them. Aqua Sniper quickly traced the signal to a player with a satellite dish, prompting her to immediately open fire with Fatal Bullet. A loud bang echoed in the air as Hecate's bullet soared its target's head, killing them and cutting off the jamming signal.

"You're good to go, Scarlet Rain," Aqua Sniper said as she removed the empty casing.

"About time!" Scarlet Rain exclaimed. She was about to unleash her remaining ammo on the Yellow Legion when she noticed the storm Black Wolf created hadn't dissipated yet, in fact it seemed to be getting stronger as a strong wind blew into the crater and purple lightning danced through the air. Rain soon followed along with sounds of thunder. Curiously, Black Wolf seemed to be fighting even harder than before. His reaction speed and attack speed were much faster, and he seemed to hit even harder.

_"What the? It's almost like the storm is powering up Marth, but how?"_ Scarlet Rain chose not to finish her thought as she chose to rain down hell with her remaining ballista, killing most of the remaining Yellow Legion members.

Meanwhile Black Lotus had made it to Yellow Radio, where she severed a part of his jester hat with her bladed arms.

"Lotus!" the Yellow King exclaimed in rage as he summoned a staff that matched his color scheme. He then swung his weapon at the Black King, who blocked it with her right arm, causing sparks to fly.

They then proceeded to clash several blows at high speed while the Black Legion and the Red King watched in awe. The storm seemed to let up too. The battling Kings then separated before they quickly resumed fighting at high-speed, making themselves yellow and purple blurs respectively, making it nearly impossible to follow.

"Man, they're moving so fast," Argent Flash commentated. "I can barely make them out. What about you, Marth? Can you tell who's winning?"

Black Wolf paused before answering. "I can see them, but it's too soon to tell who's winning or losing. They seem to be about even for now."

"So this is what a fight between two level 9 Burst Linkers looks like," Aqua Sniper said.

"Watch carefully, guys," Scarlet Rain advised. "It the first time in the history of Accelerated World that two level 9 players have gone at each other in full-out battle!"

Black Lotus was pushed back, but she quickly recovered and swung her bladed arms at Yellow Radio, aiming for his chest. Radio was able to block with his staff, but the collision created a small crater beneath them, followed by a shockwave that nearly blew the surviving Yellow Legion members away.

"You're stronger than I remember, Lotus," Yellow Radio mused as they tried to overpower each other. "Care to share how you've gotten so powerful."

_"I have noticed that my fighting skills have increased recently,"_ Black Lotus thought. _"Could it be because of Marth and his tutoring?"_

"I don't have to tell you, Radio," the Black King retorted. "And even if I did, there's no way you'd ever understand it."

"Really, now you've got me interested. It wouldn't have anything to do with that silver crystal on your chest, would it? Why, I noticed a similar one on your protégé's chest too. In fact, I bet if you put the two crystals together, they'd fit perfectly. Maybe I should try it to see what happens."

Black Lotus's eyes flared with anger. "I won't let you go anywhere near Wolf!?"

Yellow Radio cackled in amusement. "Oh, have I touched a nerve?"

The two Kings resumed their battle, but Black Lotus was fighting more aggressively than before.

_"Calm down, Kuroba,"_ Black Lotus heard her protégé say in her head. _"Radio wants you to get angry, so you'd screw up. Don't let him get to you!"_

_"I won't, Marth. Just stay back and watch."_

"They're almost there," Scarlet Rain said, catching the other Nega Nebulus's members attention. "Each of them is about to have their special move gauge at full charge. That's when the real battle begins!"

As if on que, the two other Kings backed off from each other as their special gauges reached their peak.

"The special move from Lotus will probably be some sort of direct attack," the Red King predicted. "And I bet Radio will use some kind of illusion. Lotus only has one shot. She has to get to Radio before his special move comes into play. It's the only chance she has."

Black Wolf found himself feeling uneasy as the air grew tense. _"What are you gonna do, Kuroba?"_

Suddenly Black Lotus's right arm-blade began glowing purple when she positioned it by the left side of her waist. "Snake Bite!" she exclaimed as she activated one of the skills Wolf taught her.

The other Kings were shocked by this. "What?! When did she have _that_ move?" Scarlet Rain cried out in disbelief.

Yellow Radio let out a hesitant grunt before he said, "Fatal Fortune Wh…" He never got a chance to finish as he let out groan in pain as he found himself impaled through the chest by a large red sword.

Everyone was speechless, even Lotus, who cancelled her special move. They turned towards the sword's wielder. The avatar looked to be made of chrome and had a demonic appearance. He also had a large red jewel on his forehead, the latter shaped like a dragon.

"It's," Black Wolf said slowly, "Chrome Disaster!"

**To be continued**

* * *

**Yeah, another cliffhanger, but this chapter was getting really long already. So Chrome Disaster has finally shown himself. Things are gonna go a little differently than in the anime, mainly because of Marth, Asuna and Sinon being present, but will they, Kuroba and Yuniko be able to defeat this version of Chrome Disaster? You'll have to wait to find out!**

**Snake Bite- A two hit sword skill,** **one from left to right, immediately followed by a second hit from right to left. Due to the speed of the sword skill, the two hits appear as if done with two swords instead of just one, and only one sound of impact is released with the skill**. **It can be powered up by using thirty percent of the user's special gauge. Users: Black Wolf, Black Lotus, and Graphite Edge.**


	11. The Dark Swordsman

"It's… Chrome Disaster!" Black Wolf said slowly.

"But how?!" Scarlet Rain exclaimed. "We should've had plenty of time in this world before he got here."

"Unless," Argent Flash let out a gasp, "he accelerated right when he got _on_ the train!"

" _Agh_ ," Yellow Radio groaned as he was lifted into the air by the chrome avatar. "Deceit Fire Cracker!" The Yellow King soon disappeared in a puff of smoke before reappearing a few feet behind Chrome Disaster.

"I'll eat you alive!" Chrome Disaster swore as he turned around while darkness radiated from his mouth. "All of you!"

Chrome Disaster reached his left hand out towards a random Yellow Legion member and somehow pulled the Burst Linker towards him, much to the player's shock. He trapped the player in his left hand and roared as the player tried desperately to escape. Everyone watched as Chrome Disaster mercilessly bit off the player's head before consuming most of the avatar's body, killing him.

"This isn't a fight," Aqua Sniper said in disgust while Chrome Disaster went for another victim. "It's a massacre!"

"You blood-thirsty beast," Yellow Radio said as the chrome avatar made its way towards him. "Everyone retreat!" He summoned his staff and created a smoke cloud to allow him and his legion to escape.

"We have to stop him," Argent Flash said. "C'mon, Marth! Marth?"

The fencer and sniper turned towards the dual wielder and were shocked by the sight. Black Wolf was trembling with fear and was panting wildly.

"Marth, what's wrong?" Argent Flash said in concern. She had never seen him look this afraid before.

Black Wolf dropped his swords, causing them to land with a _clang_ , and held his head in his hands, which felt like it was throbbing. Memories were pouring through his mind, overwhelming his senses. He could see Tokyo in ruins as monsters invaded. There was a man with silver hair leading them. He had black armor, a crimson cape, and carried a wicked red sword in his right hand.

"Destroy everything!" the man ordered. "Leave no survivors!"

"N-no," Black Wolf said in a panic. "Stay away from me." Suddenly Black Wolf found himself kneeling on the ground and his body refused to move.

"Marth!" Argent Flash exclaimed in worry as she hurried to her downed comrade.

"What's happening to him?" Aqua Sniper questioned quickly. "He was fine just a moment ago."

Argent Flash groaned as she felt a flash of pain in her forehead, causing her to realize what happened. "Why now of all times?" she cursed before kneeling next to her friend, who didn't seem to notice her presence. "Seeing Chrome Disaster must have triggered one of Marth's missing memories, and if he's like this, it isn't a good one."

"Crap," Aqua Sniper replied. "That's not good. Chrome Disaster won't go down easy and Kirito won't respawn for another thirty minutes. Damn it all."

Chrome Disaster was heading towards a retreating Yellow Legion member when Black Lotus sprung into action and struck his chest with her arm-blades, slightly damaging him and forcing it on one knee, with it using its sword for support. Once she skidded to a halt, she turned towards the monster.

"You will go no farther," Black Lotus said with determination. Suddenly she felt a pang of pain in her chest, or more specifically, her Core Crystal, causing her to turn towards her protégé and gasped. "Marth! Are you okay?"

Somehow, hearing his guardian's voice made the pain in his head lessen, but his body remained frozen, refusing to obey his commands to rise up. "K-Kuroba," Black Wolf said slowly, fear etched in his tone before the trauma took him over again. His Core Crystal was constantly flashing, almost like it was out of control.

"He's starting to go into Zero-Fill!" Argent Flash exclaimed. "Chrome Disaster triggered one of his bad memories and it's making him lose his will to fight."

_"Not good,"_ Black Lotus thought to herself. _"Those memories must be bringing back all the trauma Marth went through in his past. I've got to do something before he zeroes out. He'll be an open target for Chrome Disaster if that happens."_

Chrome Disaster got up before turning towards the Black King and snarled fiercely.

"Lotus, try talking to him!" Aqua Sniper shouted. "Hearing your voice brought him back for a moment. Maybe you can snap him out of it."

_"It's worth a try,"_ Black Lotus thought before saying, " 'When a Burst Linker loses their will to fight, they can't control their Duel Avatar.' When the little brat said that, she was right."

"Ngh," Black Wolf grunted as he slowly lifted his head towards his guardian, but the rest of his body refused to move.

"It's hard for me to admit this," Black Lotus confessed. "But I still regret what I did two years ago. Deep down, my insatiable appetite for violence and victory frightens me a great deal. But what I did pales to what you went through, Marth."

Black Wolf gasped as he briefly saw a vision of himself as his SAO avatar standing before Aincrad, the floating castle of Sword Art Online.

"I know what you're going through," Black Lotus continued. "Those memories open wounds you never knew you had, but you must push forward, like I did. I know you hate your Dark Swordsman persona, but you have to remember all the lives you saved in Aincrad."

"But, even so," Black Wolf said in despair as he dug his hands into the dirt. "There are thousands of other people that I failed to save, all because I was too weak."

"Don't be an idiot!" Black Lotus shouted. "I won't let you demean yourself like that. You did something that thousands of people couldn't. You survived and lived. You're not weak and you're not alone! You said it yourself, we're more than just guardian and protégé, we're partners. Our bond is stronger than anything in this world." She turned towards Chrome Disaster and raised her right arm-blade. "You must have more faith in it!"

The Black King lunged her right arm-blade at Chrome Disaster, who parried with his large red sword. Chrome Disaster then countered by lunging his sword at her, but Black Lotus back flipped away, causing him to strike the ground instead. The attack caused rocks to fly at him, but he blocked them with his left arm. Black Lotus took advantage of the opening and struck his arm with her blades, injuring him slightly.

"Wow," Argent Flash said in awe. "Kuroba's holding her own against that thing. It's incredible."

"Yeah," Aqua Sniper agreed as they watched their Legion Master and the Armor of Catastrophe clash. "It's almost like she's truly enjoying it."

Black Lotus managed to injure Chrome Disaster's chest with her blades, unfortunately all the damage she was inflicting was healing itself.

"Damn it," she cursed.

Chrome Disaster charged at her, his sword poised to strike. The Black King moved to dodge, unfortunately she wasn't fast enough, and part of her skirt was damaged from his attack.

"Run, Kuroba!" Black Wolf exclaimed. "Get out of there!"

Chrome Disaster swung his sword down in an overhead maneuver, prompting Lotus to block with a cross-block. The impact from the blow created a shockwave and also forced the Black King onto one knee as she struggled to push back the blow.

"Running is not an option for me, Marth," Black Lotus said. "I've allowed the Yellow King to expose my ugly side in front of you. As your mentor and guardian, I have to take on this fight. Otherwise, I could never face you in the real world."

"But you can't beat him on your own!" Black Wolf argued. "Why would you put yourself at risk like this?!"

"For the same reason why you chose to fight in SAO," Black Lotus answered, causing her protégé to gasp in shock. "It's not about winning or losing. It's about fighting with all your might and never backing down!"

Black Wolf lowered his head in shame. _"She's right. Back in SAO, whenever I fought, I never thought about winning or losing, I just focused on surviving and clearing the game. Besides my friends, nothing else mattered to me."_

_What will you do now?_ A voice questioned.

Suddenly Black Wolf found himself standing in a black void. "What the?" He then saw something shocking. It was himself, in his SAO avatar.

"She can't beat that thing alone," his doppelganger said. "Are you just going to stand by and watch?"

"N-no, but what can I do? I'm not the person I used to be back in Aincrad, and I'm not a hero!"

"You don't have to be a hero to fight for what matters to you," the SAO avatar stated. "All you need is the courage to take a stand."

Black Wolf lowered his head hesitantly. "But… what if I mess up? What if I just make things worse?"

"That didn't stop you back in Aincrad. Remember when you and Kirito fought Zelgius and Heathcliff on Floor 75? You guys knew that if you did there was a chance you both could die, but you did it anyway because you both knew it was the right thing to do. It's time to stop denying your past. You _are_ the Dark Swordsman, and that will never change."

The black Duel Avatar stared at his right palm for a moment before balling it into a fist. "You're right," he said slowly. "I've never backed down from a fight, and I won't start now!"

His doppelganger cracked a smile before he reached his hand out to Black Wolf. The dual wielder hesitated for a moment before taking his hand, causing them to be consumed in a bright light.

Back in the Accelerated World, Argent Flash noticed a black aura surround Black Wolf as he reached for his swords.

"Marth?" she said slowly.

Black Wolf gritted his teeth as he forced himself to stand. "I… refuse… to stand by… and watch!"

Argent Flash and Aqua Sniper then gasped as they noticed Black Wolf's eyes change from blue to yellow.

"What the?" Aqua Sniper said in confusion. "What's going on with Marth's eyes?"

Argent Flash didn't get a chance to answer as Black Wolf charged at Chrome Disaster with inhuman speed, a speed his avatar shouldn't have been able to reach. In fact, she could've sworn she saw an effigy of her friend's SAO avatar appear around him as he moved. As he ran up the crater, Black Wolf activated Vorpal Strike with Lunara, causing its blade to glow bloodred, and aimed for the chrome avatar's chest. Chrome Disaster was forced to block it with his left arm, however, the Shadow Blade made a deep cut in his armor, causing him to howl in pain. This also distracted the Armor of Catastrophe long enough for Black Lotus to regain her footing and parry his sword away from her.

"Nice hit," Black Lotus commented as she and her protégé stood side-by-side. "So I take it you'll go down fighting?"

"If it comes to that, yeah," Black Wolf replied with a smirk.

The Black King gasped when she noticed his eyes change from yellow to blue. _"It can't be… How in the world could he have…?"_ She didn't get a chance to finish her thought as she immediately sensed danger as a flash of purple light lit up from the crater.

Out of pure instinct, Black Lotus pushed Black Wolf away before she was struck by a large purple laser.

"Kuroba!" Black Wolf shouted in worry.

When the laser died down, the Black King collapsed on the ground, prompting her protégé to hurry to her and cradle her in his arms; his swords lying next to him. Black Lotus was badly damaged, with her visor cracked, but she was still alive.

"Are you okay?" Black Wolf asked quickly.

"I-I'm alright. Wh-what about you?"

"I'm fine, thanks to you."

Meanwhile Argent Flash and Aqua Sniper turned to the Red King in rage.

"Why did you do that?!" Argent Flash shouted in anger. "Why did you fire at Marth and Kuroba?! You could've killed them! If you killed Black Lotus, she would've lost all her Burst Points!"

"So what," Scarlet Rain said slowly, catching the former Alfheim Warriors off-guard.

"I thought we were allies!" Aqua Sniper added. "Was that all a lie? Answer us!?"

"To a Burst Linker, all other Linkers are their enemies," Scarlet Rain explained. "And when you lose to an enemy, you lose points. Let your points run down to zero and you're banished forever. That's just how it goes."

"But we're not enemies!" Argent Flash argued. "We're…"

"We're what? Friends? You guys are so naïve it makes my stomach turn! Let me give you one last piece of advice. In the Accelerated World, there isn't a single person you can trust. Allies. Legion members. Friends. Even the whole Guardian-protégé bond is a total sham!" Scarlet Rain dismissed her fortress and began marching out of the crater, ignoring Argent Flash and Aqua Sniper.

Aqua Sniper silently readied her Hecate rifle to fire at the Red King, but Argent Flash stopped her.

"Wait, let's see what she wants to do first," the fencer said quietly.

Begrudgingly, the sniper stood down.

"Once I'm finished taking Chrome Disaster out," Scarlet Rain continued. "I'm coming for you all next. If you all want to avoid that fate, I suggest you start running right now, because the next time we meet, it'll be as enemies."

Scarlet Rain walked past Black Lotus and Black Wolf and headed towards Chrome Disaster, who was lying on the ground after getting hit by the fortress's laser. The Red King put her foot on the chrome avatar's chest and brought out her handgun to shoot him with the Judgement Blow.

_"Is this really how Niko wants things?"_ Black Wolf questioned to himself. _"Why? It doesn't make any sense."_

"She's such a baby," Black Lotus spoke up, who had managed. "This is why I hate children."

Suddenly they heard a loud scream. Chrome Disaster had recovered and severed Scarlet Rain's right arm with his sword, which was the one with her handgun. He then grabbed her small body with his left hand and held her up. The Red King tried to break free, but Chrome Disaster was too strong for her.

"She didn't shoot," Black Wolf realized.

"No, because she was too busy brooding," Black Lotus explained. "More than anyone else here, that girl wants to be able to trust someone. She's unable to let go of a Burst Linker's last bond. It's clear to me now. Those two were guardian and protégé. Chrome Disaster, or rather Cherry Rook, was the Red King's guardian."

"I see."

Black Lotus let out a chuckle. "Well, aren't you gonna do something, _Dark Swordsman_? I'm fine. Go help Niko. She is our friend."

Black Wolf cracked a light smile. "You got it, partner." He set his guardian down gently before retrieving his swords and rising to his feet.

The dual wielder then charged at Chrome Disaster while activating Vorpal Strike with Lunara again.

" _Sei!_ " Black Wolf exclaimed as he ran his right sword through Chrome Disaster's chest.

The Armor of Catastrophe screeched in pain before it let Scarlet Rain go. The blow also knocked it back a few feet.

"What are you doing?" the Red King questioned after landed flat on her back. "I told you to get lost."

Black Wolf noticed some dark energy from Chrome Disaster had gathered on Lunara, prompting him to flick it off with a single swing.

"Well I didn't listen," Black Wolf answered. "Like it or not, we _are_ friends."

"Will you stop being so fucking naïve?!"

"Someone's got a potty mouth," a familiar voice said.

Black Wolf noticed Argent Flash and Aqua Sniper right beside him.

"You're the one being naïve, Niko," Aqua Sniper replied. "You're a King! Stop trying to avoid what needs to be done. At this point, Brain Burst is nothing more than a curse to your friend. You need to end him with the Judgement Blow, otherwise he'll just keep attacking more Burst Linkers."

"I'm guessing you two want to help too," the dual wielder theorized.

"You bet," Argent Flash replied as the trio watched Chrome Disaster pick itself up. "What's the plan?"

Black Wolf saw a notification revealing that a new power had unlocked, one that he was too familiar with.

"Asuna, Sinon, can you two distract that thing for ten seconds?"

"Sure," Aqua Sniper said as she switched to her bow and arrow. "Why?"

"There's no time to explain. When I give the word, I want you guys to get clear. Niko, once you get an opening, hit Disaster with the Judgement Blow."

The Red King slowly nodded as she retrieved her handgun. "Okay. But how the hell are you gonna hold off Chrome Disaster on your own? You're not as strong as Kuroba."

Black Wolf simply chuckled. "You'll just have to wait and see. You guys ready?"

The girls all got into fighting positions.

"Yeah."

Argent Flash and Aqua Sniper charged at Chrome Disaster, who roared in response. Meanwhile Scarlet Rain noticed Black Wolf close his eyes.

_"What is he up to?"_ she wondered.

Chrome Disaster tried striking Argent Flash with his sword, but she was too fast and struck him with Star Splash, hitting weak points in his armor. The chrome avatar then tried to slash at her waist during her post motion delay, but Aqua Sniper stopped him with a fire arrow to the face.

"Not on my watch," the sniper said calmly.

Chrome Disaster snarled in anger and charged at the blue avatar, prompting Argent Flash to move to intercept with her rapier.

Meanwhile, a black aura had flared around Black Wolf once again, prompting him to open his eyes and move to join the fray. "All right, now!" Black Wolf exclaimed.

Argent Flash knocked Chrome Disaster's sword away by using Linear before moving to the side as Black Wolf moved right in front of the Armor of Catastrophe.

" _Seyaa!_ " Black Wolf exclaimed as he used thirty percent of his special gauge to unleash Spinning Totality, causing him to do a complete spin while slashing his swords across Chrome Disaster's waist, leaving nasty gashes behind that radiated darkness. The special move also knocked Chrome Disaster back a few feet.

"Whoa," Scarlet Rain said in awe.

However, that's when the unexpected happened, as the black aura around Black Wolf intensified and his crystal flared to life before his appearance suddenly changed. His visor-helm disappeared, revealing his face, and his armor changed to a blackwyrm coat, black pants and fingerless gloves, along with a belt and boots that were the same color. His scabbards remained where they were on his back.

"What the?" Aqua Sniper said in shock. "What just…?"

"That appearance," Argent Flash spoke up, trying to fight off her disbelief. "That's Marth's SAO avatar! The Dark Swordsman!"

Black Lotus couldn't help but smile with pride for her protégé. _"Go, Marth. I know you can defeat that thing."_

"The Dark Swordsman?" the Red King questioned. "Are you saying that Wolf is the same guy who disappeared during the Demon War? But that's impossible."

"We'll explain later," Marth answered as his aura dissipated. His Core Crystal also stopped glowing. "Right now, you should get ready with that Judgement Blow."

"Uh, okay. But what exactly are you gonna do?"

As if to answer her question, Chrome Disaster charged at Marth and swung his red sword down at his head, only for the Dark Swordsman to block it with his swords using the Dual Wielding defense skill, Cross Block. Marth let out a strained grunt before he knocked back his opponent's weapon. The duo then proceeded to clash blades at high speed, with neither one giving in. Chrome Disaster then swung at the dual-wielder's neck, only for the latter to push it back with his swords.

_"Luckily this form also gives me the stats I had back in SAO,"_ Marth thought as he fought. _"Otherwise this might be going differently."_

The Dark Swordsman swung Lunara at Chrome Disaster's left flank, but the chrome avatar blocked it with his left arm. Unfortunately, the blow was too strong and severed it off. Marth then checked and saw that his special gauge was now full.

_"Now!"_ Marth thought before shouting, "Starburst Stream!" His special gauge reduced to twenty percent while his swords began glowing blue. He then proceeded to unleash the dual-wielding skill on his opponent, nearly destroying Disaster's armor. However, right before Marth performed the final hit, something strange happened.

"All I want… is to become stronger." The voice was that of a young boy. Since there was no one else in the area, Marth assumed it was Cherry Rook. Sure enough, a small avatar could be seen in the Armor of Catastrophe. "That's all. I can tell you feel the same way. You also want the power, don't you?"

"No way!" Marth exclaimed in anger. "You think you can be forgiven just because you wanted to get stronger? You _chose_ to wear that armor and attacked all those Burst Linkers. You even tried to devour Niko, your own protégé! There's no excuse for that! Everyone wants to get stronger, but you did it in the wrong way!"

The Dark Swordsman tightened his grip on Solaris as his eyes became yellow. "This ends now, Cherry Rook!" Marth plunged the golden blade into Cherry Rook's chest, the blue light intensifying, as if his very willpower was magnifying the skill's power. The swordsman let out a howl as a loud cracking sound could be heard coming from the armor as he pushed the golden blade in further.

Suddenly the armor exploded, knocking Marth into a fallen pillar before he landed on the ground flat on his stomach.

"Marth, are you okay?" Argent Flash exclaimed in worry as she hurried over to the Dark Swordsman.

The black-haired teen somehow managed to rise to his feet and nodded. His eyes were their normal color too. "Yeah, somehow."

"Is he finished?" Aqua Sniper questioned.

"Only one way to find out," Marth answered.

The trio headed to the small crater the explosion had created. There was no trace of the armor, only the rusted body of a small Duel Avatar.

"You did it, Black Wolf," Scarlet Rain said. "Now leave the rest to me."

The Red King entered the crater before holding her guardian with her stump of an arm while aiming her handgun at his chest. A loud gunshot soon followed as she struck him with the Judgement Blow, causing Cherry Rook's avatar to disappear.

"In the real world, Cherry and I don't know who our parents are," Scarlet Rain confessed. "We were both abandoned when we were little. The boarding school we go to is a school for orphaned kids just like us."

Marth gasped in disbelief as he sheathed his swords. "You're an orphan. I'm sorry."

"Please don't start," the Red King dismissed as she placed her remaining hand on the ground. "I hear that way too much as it is. I don't need your pity too. Anyway, because my personality is what it is, I had a hard time fitting in at school. I was always off in the corner, playing VR games alone. But three years ago, a boy who was a couple years older came up and talked to me. He was trying so hard to tell me something, his face turned had bright red. It was pretty funny.

"Then he asked if I wanted to play a game he thought I would like a whole lot more. When I became a Burst Linker, he taught me everything he knew so I could fit in. He even risked his life to protect me from harm. But it wasn't long before I caught up to him. And then passed his level. Before I knew it, I was level 9. And after that, I was made Legion Master. I became obsessed." Her voice then cracked. "I never once stopped to think about he may be going through, or if something was bothering him. We met in the real world every day at school. But I didn't even notice that he was acting strange. All he wanted… was to be my guardian forever. That's why he sought more power and was tempted by the Armor of Catastrophe. If only I had said something to him, but I didn't. I did nothing!"

It didn't take an expert to realize she was ready to burst into tears.

"Niko," Marth said slowly before kneeling beside the Red King and putting his hand on her left shoulder, catching her attention. "While it is true that Brain Burst is way more than just a game, there are other ways to meet people. Just like I know my guardian in real life, you know Cherry Rook there too. No matter what happens, you guys will always have that bond in the real world. Just… think of it as starting over."

"Marth's right," Argent Flash added as she and Aqua Sniper made their way into the crater. "Even though we're from different legions, we're friends in the real world, Niko."

"Wh-what?" Scarlet Rain said in surprise as she forced herself away from the dual wielder. "Yeah right. In your dreams! You guys could make good underlings, especially you, Wolf, but that's as far as you'd get."

"An underling to whom, I might ask?" asked a familiar voice.

The group turned around and saw none other than Graphite Edge, who was supporting Black Lotus. The metal avatar's armor was fully restored, and his swords were sheathed.

"Kirito! Kuroba!" Marth exclaimed in relief.

"Of course," Aqua Sniper realized. "The one-hour death penalty is over. It's good to have you back. You sure went out with a bang."

"Yeah, but you guys were doing awesome too," Graphite Edge replied. "Especially you, Marth. So, uh, how did you switch to your SAO avatar here?"

"Uh," Marth said nervously before he reverted back to Black Wolf. "I guess you could say… I accepted myself in a way."

Graphite Edge quickly caught on to what his friend was inferring. "You accepted your Dark Swordsman persona. Cool." He lowered his head in shame and muttered, "If only I could do the same with mine."

Black Lotus then hovered towards the Red King. "Well now, Scarlet Rain. I believe you have something you would like to say to me?"

To absolutely no surprise, Scarlet Rain just looked away and casually said, "My bad."

That irritated the Black King. "That's all?!" she exclaimed.

"Well, what do you expect?!" Scarlet Rain argued as she stood up to face her fellow level 9 Burst Linker. "At least I fought through the whole thing. You were the one lying there sleeping during most of it!"

"And just who's fault was that?!" Black Lotus rebuked as the former Alfheim Warriors gathered to the side.

"This is almost refreshing," Graphite Edge said as he folded his arms. "Makes it hard to believe we were in a dangerous battle earlier."

"Technically we were in a dangerous battle," Aqua Sniper said smugly. "You bit the dust right at the beginning."

Graphite Edge comically slumped in despair. "You don't have to rub it in!" he moaned, prompting his girlfriend to comfort him by patting his back.

Suddenly the night sky began to light up with sunlight before a large energy wave passed through, changing the city into a forest with large white stone ruins.

"What just happened?" Black Wolf questioned.

"Transition time," Black Lotus answered. "The elements that make up the Unlimited Neutral Field are chaotic. They change at fixed intervals. I know it's a sight to behold, but enough standing around. There are things we have to do."

"Like what?" Argent Flash questioned.

"Everyone, open up your status screens and check the item storage," the Black King instructed. "If the Armor of Catastrophe is in there, make sure you delete it."

The group all checked their armor storage and confirmed that the Enhanced Armament was gone.

"Thank God," Black Wolf said in relief. "Hopefully it'll stay gone this time."

"Let's hope so," Black Lotus agreed. "Now then, our mission is complete. I think we should go celebrate."

"Yeah," the others agreed.

The group then proceeded to head for the nearest leave-point.

_Marth!_

Black Wolf gasped in surprise and quickly turned around as he drew his swords, only to see no one behind him. The voice sounded dark and full of hatred, but it also sounded very familiar to the dual wielder. It made him feel on edge and his blood run cold.

_You cannot hide from me,_ the voice continued. _I will have my revenge!_

Black Wolf tried to track down the source of the voice, but he couldn't find anything that could have made it. However, that didn't put him at ease.

"Marth, are you okay?" Graphite Edge questioned.

Black Wolf looked around with a suspicious eye one more time before giving up. "It's nothing," he dismissed as he sheathed his swords. "Just my mind playing tricks on me."

Graphite Edge simply shrugged before the duo caught up to the others.

_"I know that voice,"_ Black Wolf thought to himself. _"But… where did I hear it from?"_

* * *

**The Next Day**

Marth, his ALO version, was taking a nap in a tree in the park. He looked very peaceful until he heard a familiar voice say, "There you are, Marth!"

The Dark Swordsman opened his eyes and looked down, where he saw a familiar black-haired girl looking up at him. "Hey Kuroba. What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to say congratulations on defeating Chrome Disaster," the Black King answered. "Out of all the powers your Duel Avatar inherited, I never would have expected you to be able to change avatars inside of Brain Burst."

Marth hopped down from the branch he was on and landed nimbly next to his guardian.

"Me neither," Marth confessed. "I was just acting on a whim."

Kuroba chuckled in amusement. "Well it certainly paid off. So… did you mean what you said? Did you really accept your past?"

The dual wielder switched to his SAO avatar and looked away. "Sort of. I mainly accepted my Dark Swordsman persona since it is a part of who I am. I guess you could call it my true self in a way. But…" Marth stared at his right palm, which was trembling. "That's only half of the trauma I endured thirty years ago. I don't think I'll ever be free of it."

Suddenly he felt a hand grab his and gave it a gentle squeeze. Marth looked up and saw his guardian smiling at him.

"I can't even begin to imagine the horrors you must have witnessed back then," Kuroba said. "You must have experienced so many hardships to be affected this severely. But know this. I will _never_ leave you, no matter what happens. We'll do this… together."

Marth suddenly had a vision of a certain purple-haired Imp smiling at him.

"We'll do this together," she had said.

Marth could feel his heart ache in pain and hoped Kuroba didn't notice. Unfortunately for him, she did.

"Is something wrong?" she questioned.

"N-no, it's nothing," he lied. "Thanks."

Kuroba looked at her partner in suspicion but chose not to press further. _"There's got to be a way to get Marth to fully open to me. It's not fair to him to close himself off like this."_

"Anyway," Marth said as he reverted to his ALO form. "I think I'll only use my SAO avatar for emergencies only. Cyan Demon's allies are still out there looking for me. I'd rather not place a target on my back or on you and the others."

"I understand. So… feeling like training today?"

Marth simply smirked. "You've got it."

* * *

Frank was back in his apartment. He had just finished a phone call with Rias, where she explained that she had to spend another day out of town before she could back. After reassuring her that he'd be alright, Frank hung up.

He heard sounds coming from the living room, so he went to investigate. Not surprisingly, it was Yuniko playing one of his video games again.

"You're still here?" Frank questioned.

"Yeah, your mom is out of town for another day, so I'd thought I'd crash here one more time."

Frank let out a sigh, knowing he was stuck with her regardless of what he said. _"I wonder though, can my SAO avatar handle the Red King?"_ He shook his head to dismiss the thought.

Yuniko paused the game she was playing to face the Black Wolf player. "I've notified the other Kings, including Yellow Radio, and told them that Disaster has been dealt with. I wanted to raise the point of Radio taking the armor in the first place, but I have no proof of it. I also neglected to mention you being the Dark Swordsman."

"Thank you for that," Frank said sincerely. "I know it was asking a little much for you."

The Red King simply shrugged. "Eh, it was no big deal. But this is a little crazy. According to the textbooks, you, Kirito, Asuna and Sinon are from thirty years ago, yet you're all here now. Why is that?"

"It's… complicated. Anyway, how are things between you and Cherry Rook?"

"Well… it looks like he'll be moving next month," Yuniko answered. "It seems that somewhere out of the blue, some distant relatives came forward. They live in… Fukuoka."

"That's pretty far," Frank said.

"That's why he said he was in such a hurry," Yuniko continued. "His biggest fear was, if he moved, then the only way for us to connect would be through Brain Burst. But there aren't a whole lot of Burst Linkers outside of Tokyo, so he wanted to fight and raise his level while he was here. It was that hurry that led him to the armor. But in spite, or maybe even thanks to him losing Brain Burst, he's back to his old self again."

She gave the Aegis an honest smile. "He's just like he was when he first approached me. Which made me realize, even if he's not a Burst Linker now, and he still goes and moves to Fukuoka, our friendship is not over. There's a lot of other VR games we could play."

Frank nodded in agreement. "Yeah, there's tons of them. Although it's a shame Alfheim Online isn't one of them."

"Well if you know any others that are good, feel free to tell me! I want a game… he and I can play for a really long time."

"I'll try to see what I can find."

Yuniko realized that she forgot something and brought out a bag of cookies before handing them to Frank. "Here, it's… a thank you for what you and your legion did for me."

Frank's eyes widened in genuine disbelief. "Did you make these yourself?"

"What do you think? Of course, I did. If you don't want them, then give them back!"

"I didn't say that." Frank then helped himself to a cookie. "These are really good. Thanks, Niko."

Yuniko looked away in embarrassment and said, "It's nothing. Don't think too hard about it."

**To be continued**

* * *

**And with that, the Chrome Disaster arc comes to an end. So, Marth has finally accepted his Dark Swordsman persona, but the question remains, will he be able to handle accepting the rest of his past (when he remembers it)? This answer to that… will come at a later date. Anyway, I'll see you guys next time!**

**Thor's Fury: One of Black Wolf's special moves. It requires forty percent of his special gauge in order to use. It summons a storm that lasts for three minutes and can get stronger at the cost of more of the special gauge. Its lightning damages those Black Wolf sees as his enemies and heals him. It also gives him a speed and attack increase as long as the storm is active.**


	12. Family

**November 1st, 2056**

Frank and Kuroba were at a café to celebrate the Black King mastering the three-hit one-handed sword skill, Sharp Nail. Frank had a root beer and a burger while Kuroba had tea and a salad.

"Congratulations, Kuroba," Frank said with a smile. "You're improving really quickly."

"Thanks, but it's mostly thanks to you and Kazuto's coaching that I've managed to progress so far," she passed off. "Anyway, have you had any luck tracking down the other Alfheim Warriors?"

Sadly, Frank shook his head. "No, we haven't found anyone else yet. I'm getting a little worried."

Kuroba took her protégé's hand into her own and gave it a gentle squeeze. "We'll find them, Frank," she assured. "I promise."

The blue-eyed teen couldn't help but smile at the girl. "Thanks, Kuroba."

"You're welcome. By the way, isn't one of the members of the Alfheim Warriors your sister?"

"Yeah, her name is Meg, but she used the name 'Thorrnn' whenever she played Alfheim Online. I don't have a lot of memories of her right now, but from what I could gather, we weren't that close growing up until I got out of SAO. One of the earliest memories of her I can remember is that we both played soccer when we were little, but I ended up quitting after a while."

"Well, I can't really see _you_ playing soccer," Kuroba admitted.

Frank feigned a hurt look. "You don't have to rub it in."

Kuroba simply laughed at that.

* * *

Frank and Kuroba had exited the café when they unexpectedly ran into a certain red-haired woman.

"Mom?!" Frank said in surprise.

The older woman chuckled at her son's reaction. "Hello, Frank," Rias said before noticing the Black King. "Aren't you gonna introduce me to your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend/I'm not his girlfriend!" Frank and Kuroba exclaimed respectively, their faces beet red in embarrassment.

After taking a moment to calm down, Frank added, "This is Kuroba. She's a friend from school."

"Ah, so this is the girl you've talked about." Rias extended her hand to the teenage girl. "I'm Rias Hagino. It's nice to finally meet you."

Kuroba took Rias's hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you too, Miss Hagino."

Rias then let go before whispering in her son's ear, "Does she know?"

"Yeah, don't worry," Frank answered, knowing how protective she is of him. "She can be trusted."

That seemed to please his foster mother as she stepped away and faced the Black Lotus player.

"Do you have any plans tonight, Kuroba?" Rias questioned with a light smile. "If not, you're more than welcome to come over."

"Um, sure, if it's not too much trouble," Kuroba said slowly, caught off-guard by the request, even though this is something she wanted to do for a while.

"Not at all. I'd like to know more about the girl that my son hangs out with so much."

Both teens felt their faces getting hot and refused to meet each other's gaze. The group then began making their way back to the apartment building, but not before Kuroba bumped shoulders into a brown-haired girl.

"Oh, sorry," Kuroba said instinctively.

"No, it's my fault," the girl answered. "I wasn't looking where I was going." She then watched as Kuroba hurried towards the others and gasped when she saw Frank. "Can it be…?"

* * *

Frank, Kuroba and Rias made to the apartment without any trouble. Yuniko had long since left before Frank's parents had returned from their business trip.

"Make yourself at home, Kuroba," Rias said as she set her purse on the kitchen table.

"Thank you," the black-haired girl replied before following Frank into his room.

"Just no funny business!" Rias added with a mischievous smirk on her face.

"Mom!?" Frank shouted back in embarrassment.

Rias simply chuckled to herself. _"That Kuroba girl seems nice. But why does she have a similar presence to Frank? I'll have to ask them about it later."_

Meanwhile, Kuroba sat down on Frank's bed, while Frank was looking through his game selection to find a good game for them to play together.

"Your mom seems nice," Kuroba said suddenly.

Frank didn't stop what he was doing and replied with, "Yeah, I'm really lucky that she and Dad found me when they did. Who knows what could've happened if someone with… darker intent found me?"

Kuroba couldn't help but shudder at the thought. "Nothing good, I'd say. Um, does she know about us?"

"You mean you being my Driver? I did tell her about me being an Aegis, but I haven't had a chance to go into more detail since she's always busy with work."

"I see," Kuroba said nervously.

* * *

Kazuto and Asuna were walking through the park while holding hands.

"It sure is peaceful," Asuna commented as she admired the trees, whose leaves were changing color because of the season.

"Yeah," Kazuto agreed before he realized something. "Hey, weren't we here thirty years ago?"

Asuna paused for a moment to think before nodding. "I think so. Wait… yes, we were. We came here with Marth and Yuuki a year after SAO ended. We were talking about our plans for the future."

Kazuto halted in his tracks and let go of his girlfriend, prompting her to face him in confusion. The Graphite Edge player's eyes filled with sorrow. "I feel bad for Frank. Because I was a lousy Driver, Yuuki's gone. I failed my best friend. We probably wouldn't be in this situation if I was able to handle Marth's Aegis powers."

Kazuto lowered his head and choked back a sob as his eyes began to tear up. Suddenly he felt a warm hand brush against his cheek.

"You did the best that you could," Asuna reassured as she cupped her boyfriend's face with her hands. "I'm sure neither Marth nor Yuuki blames you for what happened. In fact, I bet Marth beats himself up over it."

"How can you be so sure about that?"

"You're not the only one who has a strong bond with him. I can see it in Marth's eyes. They're full of sadness and pain. He may try to hide it, but I can see right through it. You probably never noticed because you've been beating yourself up over Yuuki's death."

Kazuto didn't bother denying it since he knew it was true. Ever since his memories of the last day of the Demon War returned, Kazuto couldn't look at Frank without feeling guilty. _"I'm the reason Yuuki died. If only I was stronger."_ Those were the thoughts that filled his head whenever he saw his partner.

Tears began to leak from the black-haired teen's eyes and roll down his cheeks.

"Asuna, why do you put up with me?" he questioned. "With the way I am, I'm not worth your love. I'm not a hero."

The chestnut-haired girl simply wiped his tears away with her fingers. "Don't say that," Asuna replied. "I didn't fall in love with the Black Swordsman, I fell in love with the person behind the avatar. Back in Aincrad, all I focused on was clearing the game, and my heart grew hard because of it. But then you showed me that there was more to SAO than just clearing floors. You showed me how to live again, and I'll always be grateful for that."

"Asuna," Kazuto muttered before pulling her into a hug.

The Lightning Flash returned the embrace and rubbed circles on her boyfriend's back. "You have a bad habit of keeping your troubles to yourself, so it's difficult to help you through them. But just know that I'm here for you."

* * *

**That Evening**

After playing a few video games, Rias insisted for Kuroba to stay over for dinner. The Black King gladly accepted, since it would be a good chance to get to know her protégé's mother. Rias had finished cooking supper, which was baked chicken with rice, and Frank and Kuroba had set the table for three. The group then sat around the table, with Kuroba sitting beside Frank. After saying thanks, they began to dig in.

"Wow, Miss Hagino, this tastes amazing," Kuroba commented as she took her first few bites.

Rias giggled at the compliment. "Thank you. I really wanted this to be special. Frank hardly brings anyone over, aside from Kazuto and Asuna. If I may, how did you two meet?"

Both teens inwardly panicked. They couldn't talk about Brain Burst since it was kept secret from adults. Luckily, Kuroba was able to come up with a quick-time story.

"Frank and I met at school. I was impressed by his gaming skills and wanted to talk with him, so I invited him to have lunch with me. I also knew that he was being bullied by a few students, so I decided to help him out. Long story short, the bullies were expelled and me and Frank became friends."

"I see. As you are aware, my son has to be careful with what he does. I don't want the wrong people finding out about him."

"I know," Kuroba confirmed before placing her right hand on her chest. "And I promise, I won't tell anyone about Marth's powers."

Rias looked almost impressed by the girl's resolve as simply smiled. "Thank you. I appreciate it."

"There's something else I'm curious about," Rias added. "Kuroba, you have this presence that's similar to Frank. Why is that?"

The Black King was silent for a moment before she locked eyes with her Blade, who gave her a silent nod. Kuroba unbuttoned the top of her shirt, revealing the x-shaped silver crystal on her chest. Frank also allowed his Core Crystal to appear.

"What the?" Rias said in shock.

"You know how I told you that I am an Aegis?" Frank explained. "Well, about a month ago, Araya tried to run us over with a car, but Kuroba saved me by pushing me out of the way. She ended up being critically injured so I gave her half of my Core Crystal to save her life. We ended up becoming Driver and Blade."

It was quiet for a few moments until his mother said, "I see. How interesting."

"If it makes you feel any better, Frank has been teaching me how to handle his power," Kuroba spoke up.

"That would be smart," Rias said. "Tokyo was badly damaged by Frank thirty years ago. I think everyone would prefer not repeating that. Just be careful."

"We will!" the teens answered.

It was getting really late, so Kuroba decided to head home, only for Rias to offer her to spend the night here. Needless to say, both teens were taken aback.

"But Mom, we don't have a guest room," Frank interjected.

"Then I guess she'll have to share your room. You're both eighteen. I trust that you two won't do anything funny in there."

"Wh-what?!" Frank and Kuroba exclaimed as their faces became beet-red, much to the older woman's amusement.

It was clear that Rias wasn't going to change her mind, so Frank and Kuroba had no choice but to accept their fate. Dinner went by quickly after that. Frank then went to the bathroom to take a shower while Kuroba was helping Rias with the dishes.

"I'm sorry for putting you on the spot like that," Rias said sincerely as she scrubbed the plates before handing them to the teen so she could load them into the dish washer. "You see, Frank has this sorrow and pain in his eyes. I know that he went through a lot during the Demon War, but it doesn't look like he's moved on from it."

"He hasn't," Kuroba answered grimly. "There are things he won't tell me about; despite how much it bothers him. I just don't know what to do?"

"So, what are you doing for my son?" Rias questioned suddenly.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"My son shoulders the burden of sustaining your life, so what are you doing for him in return?"

Kuroba found herself floored as she struggled to come up with a response. "I-I don't know," she confessed. "I guess I just support him."

"That's not enough," Rias said. "There must be something you can do for Frank that's equal to what he's doing for you."

"But what do I do? I'm clueless!"

"You'll have to find it out on your own, otherwise it won't mean anything."

Kuroba went quiet as Rias finished loading the dish washer and turned it on. She then heard a door open and saw Frank exit the bathroom wearing a long sleeve black sleepshirt and pajamas.

Frank noticed she was staring and said, "Is something wrong?"

Kuroba simply shook her head. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it. Is it okay if I borrow some of your pajamas again?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

* * *

After getting some sleepwear from Frank's room, which looked like the ones he was wearing, Kuroba went into the bathroom to take a shower. After taking off her clothes and undergarments, she stepped into the hot water and began to wash herself. Rias's words were still echoing in her mind, making her uneasy.

"What am I doing for Frank?" Kuroba asked herself as she scrubbed shampoo into her long hair. "I never thought of this before. Is me being his guardian not enough? What else do I have to do?"

* * *

Kuroba finished drying herself with a towel before she changed into her sleepwear. She then stepped outside the bathroom, where she handed her clothes to Rias so she could wash them for tomorrow. After that, Kuroba entered Frank's room, where he had a blanket and pillow in hand.

"What are you doing?" Kuroba questioned.

"I thought I'd let you have the bed and I'll sleep on the couch," Frank explained. "My mom shouldn't have…"

Frank was interrupted when Kuroba buried her face in his chest, taking him by surprise.

"No, please stay with me," Kuroba pleaded. "I… I…"

Frank let out a sigh in defeat. "Fine. If that's what you want."

He returned the pillow he had to his bed and placed the small blanket in a corner while Kuroba sat on the bed.

"Hey Frank. Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Remember when Niko found dog hair on your bed? Could that have been because of…?"

Frank simply chuckled in amusement. "I figured you'd ask that eventually." Suddenly a dark aura surrounded him before he changed into a black wolf with white markings. His eyes remained blue and his Core Crystal could be seen prominently on his chest.

"Whoa," Kuroba said in awe.

"It's called Wolf Heart," Frank explained. "I don't remember how I got it, but it allows me to change into a wolf. I can change back and forth at will but sometimes I change in my sleep."

"I see. Is there anything else?"

"Yeah, Kazuto can change into a wolf as well, only his form is white with black markings. He also doesn't remember how he got it either. We'd constantly play around in the park with Asuna. Good times." Frank then changed back into his human form.

"Will I be able to do that?"

"I doubt it. Wolf Heart's not an Aegis power, it's something else. Plus, I doubt it can be taught."

"Oh well," Kuroba replied. "I guess I'll settle with you teaching me sword skills."

The duo laughed at that. They then decided to get some sleep, so they both climbed into bed. Frank was on the right and Kuroba on the left. He was lying on his side, his back facing her, when suddenly Kuroba wrapped an arm around him. Frank didn't have the energy to do anything, so he just let her be.

_"Should I really be doing this?"_ Frank questioned himself. _"Yuuki was the last person I got this close with and she died because of me. Do I really deserve someone like Kuroba?"_

* * *

**The Next Day**

Kuroba slowly woke up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Frank was nowhere to be seen, but she could sense him nearby through their resonance. Flashes of last night began going through her head, especially the parts where she made herself vulnerable to her protégé.

"What was I thinking?!" Kuroba cursed to herself as she slapped her forehead with an open palm. "I totally embarrassed myself in front of him."

She got out of bed and went into the kitchen, where she saw Frank sitting by the table eating some toast. He was wearing a jacket, a t-shirt, and pants, which were all black, and white socks.

"Morning," Frank greeted. "How'd you sleep?"

"Good." Kuroba answered as she sat in the chair next to him. "What about you?"

"Well, I didn't have any nightmares, which is rare for me." He then slid his plate over to her, which had two more pieces of toast on it, which Kuroba gladly ate.

"Where are your parents?" Kuroba asked as she noticed their absence.

"They went to run some errands. They won't be back for a few hours. By the way, my mom finished washing your clothes. They're in the laundry basket by the bathroom."

"Okay. Remind me to thank your mother when I see her again. So what's the plan for today?"

"How about we go do some training in the park?" Frank offered. "You're getting really close to learning the four-hit sword skills. Those will definitely come in handy in the future."

"Alright," Kuroba agreed. "Let me get changed and then we can go."

* * *

" _Sei!_ " Kuroba exclaimed as she swung Lunara in a horizontal motion from left to right. The black sword's weight had increased quite a bit since she had started her training, but she had built up enough muscle in her arms to swing Lunara around without any problems.

"Your form was pretty good," Marth said. "Keep this up and you'll be able to master the Horizontal Square."

Kuroba let out a heavy breath. "It kind of sucks that there's no system assist here. I don't know how you manage to pull off these sword skills in the real world with such speed and precision."

"It just comes with the powers," Marth answered. "But this will help you get better with the sword."

"Yeah, but why can't I do the Vorpal Strike? It's a one-hit move, but every time I try to activate it, it fails."

"That's because Vorpal Strike required a one-handed sword skill of 950 to learn it."

"950?! Are you kidding me?"

"Nope. Until you master the other one-handed sword techniques, you won't be able to use the Vorpal Strike. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do about it."

Kuroba simply let out a deep breath. "Fine. I guess I've got more motivation to master these techniques now. By the way, when are you going to teach me that Skill Connect trick?"

"Once you're able to dual wield. While it possible to use Skill Connect with just one sword, it's very tricky to pull off and very situational. Trust me, you're better off just waiting until you're ready to dual-wield."

"If you say so," Kuroba replied.

She was about to resume her practice swings when suddenly a voice cried out, "I finally found you!"

Both Marth and Kuroba halted in their tracks before they turned around. It was the same brown-haired girl from yesterday. She was wearing a brown jacket, black pants and boots, along with white gloves. She also had a green Neurolinker. Her hair went down past her shoulders and curled up at the ends. She also had brown eyes.

"Um, do I know you?" Marth asked nervously, feeling a sense of familiarity from the new girl.

The girl didn't look fazed by the question and said, "Don't you remember me? It's me, Frank! I'm your sister, Meg."

"My…sister?" Marth let out a gasp as he began seeing flashes of him as a child playing with a little girl with brown hair in a park, but then he also saw another flash of them running from unknown assailants in the dead of night.

"M-Meg, is that really you?" Marth questioned in recognition.

Tears of joy promptly leaked from the brown-haired girl's eyes before she tackled her brother into a tight hug, which he returned. "Thank goodness! I'm so glad you're okay! I missed you so much, Frank."

Kuroba then found herself feeling out of place. "Um, could someone explain what's going on?"

The two siblings parted and faced the Black King. "Sorry, this is Meg," Marth introduced. "She's my younger sister and a member of the Alfheim Warriors."

The Black Lotus player nodded her head in understanding. "Oh, now I get it. It's nice to meet you, Meg. My name's Kuroba Yukiko. As you can probably tell, I'm your brother's new Driver."

"Nice to meet you too," Meg replied with a slight bow. "So, um, what were you guys doing just now?"

Marth and Kuroba spent the next few minutes explaining about their training, making sure it was in a secluded part of the park so they could avoid attention. Once they were done, Meg seemed to understand.

"I see. I didn't think it was possible to teach sword skills to others," Meg spoke up. "Who'd have thought it?"

"How did you find us anyway?" Kuroba asked warily. "We've been trying to find the other Alfheim Warriors with little success."

"Well, we technically ran into each other yesterday, but I lost you guys at the apartment complex. I had no choice but to come back today to try again, and even then I was really nervous."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't know how you'd react to seeing me, or how much of Frank's memories had returned. I myself have only a few flashes, like parts of my childhood, Alfheim Online, and the Demon War."

"Me, Kazuto and Asuna remember most of our time from SAO and parts of the Demon War," Marth added. "And Sinon just remembers the Demon War."

Meg gasped in surprise. "You guys found Kazuto, Asuna and Sinon?! That's fantastic! Sugu will be so happy to hear this!"

This time Marth was surprised. "Wait, Sugu's here too?"

"No, we share an apartment nearby. I asked her if she wanted to come, but she insisted that I do this alone."

"Um, who's Sugu?" Kuroba asked nervously.

"She's Kazuto's younger sister and my best friend," Meg answered simply. "She remembers about the same as me. How about we get everyone together for a mini reunion?"

"That's a good idea," Marth agreed. "Do you know any good places to meet up?"

Meg simply smiled with anticipation. "I know this café that might make a good place…"

* * *

Frank, Kuroba, Kazuto, Asuna and Shino were gathered outside the Dicey Café, filling the former Alfheim Warriors with nostalgia. There was a sign saying that it was closed for a private party.

"I can't believe this place is still here," Shino said in awe. "I would've thought this place would've been replaced since we've been gone for so long."

Asuna noticed Kazuto looked a little nervous, prompting her to grab his shoulder, which made him jump from the contact. "You okay?" she asked in concern.

Kazuto turned towards his girlfriend and forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm just thinking about what to say to Sugu. She'll probably be mad that I didn't try to find her the first thing since we arrived in this era."

"Our memories were blocked, Kirito! I doubt Leafa would hold it against you. Just relax and everything will be fine."

"You're right, as always. Anyway, let's do this."

The group stepped inside the café, which was the same as it was thirty years ago. It was devoid of any technology with round wooden tables and chairs. There was also a bar with dozens of bottles of different alcohol behind it, ranging from vodka to tequila. However, what surprised them was the barista polishing a mug from behind it.

"Agil!" the ex-Alfheim Warriors shouted in shock.

The dark-skinned man looked up and gave the group a mischievous smirk. "Well, well, about time you guys got here," Andrew said. "The others arrived twenty minutes ago." He also had a Neurolinker, which was white.

"Others?" Frank questioned.

"Kazuto!" a familiar voice cried out in joy.

Suddenly Kazuto found himself knocked to the floor as a girl with short black hair tackled him into a tight embrace.

"S-Sugu?" Kazuto asked as he forced the girl off him. "Is it really you?"

The dark-haired girl nodded in confirmation. "Yep, it's me, alright! Did you miss me?"

As if to answer the question, Kazuto pulled his sister/cousin into a hug, which she returned. Meanwhile, Frank and the others noticed Meg sitting by a booth with two certain individuals.

"Klein?! Silica?!" Frank exclaimed.

(I know Klein isn't his real name, but his real one is really long that I don't want to constantly type/copy it, so he'll be referred to as "Klein" in both the real and virtual world.)

The Salamander player waved casually and said, "Sup, Marth. Long time no see."

"It's so great to see you all again," Ayano said with a big smile on her face.

"But… how…?" Asuna said in shock, unable to register what was going on.

"You can thank Thorrnn and Leafa," Klein explained. "After our memories started to return last month, those two managed to gather us together one by one. They found Silica first, then Agil, then me. We were having a hard time tracking you guys down though, kinda weird."

Andrew then noticed the black-haired girl by Frank's side, who looked confused as to what was going on. "Who's she?" he asked simply.

The group then spent the next few minutes giving introductions and explaining what's been happening during the last month. Suguha, Klein and Ayano also had Neurolinkers, which were the colors of their races from ALO.

"So you guys were attacked by monsters too?" Suguha questioned as they all sat around a large table.

"Very rarely," Kazuto replied. "The only incident I remember aside from Cyan Demon was when monsters attacked the museum we were at, and that was eight years ago."

Kuroba couldn't help but shiver at the memory. "I never felt so afraid as I did back there," she answered grimly. "If Frank hadn't shown up when he did, I wouldn't be here right now. But what I don't get is that they were after _me_ specifically. Why?"

"Revenge," Frank said simply, causing all eyes to face him. "They wanted to use you as bait to lure me out because you're the Dawn Remnant. They want revenge because I defeated their master during the Demon War."

"Dawn Remnant?" Kuroba questioned, the words feeling strange on her tongue. "What's that mean?"

Frank just leaned back in his chair and said, "Beats me, but it must be pretty important that they would risk attacking in broad daylight just to get to you."

"I see." There was something else that was bothering Kuroba. She hadn't told anyone else this yet since she herself couldn't make much sense of it. Back at the museum, eight years ago, she had overheard some of the monsters talking about the Twilight Remnant and wanting revenge on him, curiously, right before they even mentioned the Dark Swordsman.

"Wait a minute," Kuroba spoke up. "I just realized something. Back at the museum, the monsters were talking about something called a Twilight Remnant. From the way they were talking, it sounded like the Twilight Remnant and the Dark Swordsman were the same person."

"Meaning Frank, right?" Andrew said, getting a nod from the Black King. "Does anyone else get a strange vibe whenever they hear 'Dawn Remnant' and 'Twilight Remnant'?"

Everyone nodded in acknowledgement.

"It's weird," Meg said. "I feel like I know what those words mean, but every time I try to remember, it escapes me."

"I think that goes for all of us," Asuna replied. "By the way, have you guys been able to find Liz at all?"

Sadly, Meg shook her head. "No, we were hoping that she was with you guys," she answered grimly. "According to the records, Liz disappeared around the same time as us, but I don't know why we haven't been able to find her."

"It's probably because she holds a grudge against Marth," Klein said. "I'm not saying that it's justified, but that might be why we can't find her, because she doesn't want to be found."

Frank lowered his head in shame as he felt despair begin to surface in his heart.

"It's not your fault for what happened, Marth," Ayano said suddenly. "We all know that you would never do something like that deliberately."

"But it is my fault," Frank said slowly as he clutched the part of his chest where his Core Crystal was located with his right hand. "If I didn't merge with this stupid core, Yuuki and Celina would still be alive."

"Don't say that!" Asuna exclaimed. "If you hadn't merged with your core, we wouldn't have had the power to fight Zarc and his minions. Thousands of people survived thanks to you, Marth."

"And how many people died because of me?!" Frank snapped, catching everyone off-guard. "All because I couldn't control my powers, people got hurt or lost their lives! Face it, I've got innocent blood on my hands."

"You're not the only one who does," Kazuto spoke up in a calm tone, causing the Black Wolf player to face him. "Yuuki and the others died because I couldn't control your powers. I was your Driver and I failed big time. If you need someone to blame, blame me."

Frank's eyes filled with sorrow as he eyed his male partner as he lowered his hand. "Kazuto…"

Rias's words echoed in Kuroba's mind. _"What are you doing for my son?"_

_"I think I understand what she meant. She knew about Frank's fears and regrets."_ Kuroba placed her hand on top of Frank's, causing him to jolt from the sudden contact. "I won't let that happen again. That's why I've been training so hard. You shoulder the burden of keeping me alive, so I'll carry all your fears and regrets, until they no longer weigh you down. This I vow, as both your guardian and your Driver."

"Kuroba," Frank said in awe.

Klein simply eyed the amber-eyed girl and smirked. "Huh, who would've thought it?"

The Black King turned to the red head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing, it's just… right then, you reminded me of Yuuki. She always found a way to cheer people up, especially Marth."

"Oh really? Then I'll do my best to not dishonor her memory." Kuroba then realized that she was still holding Frank's hand, prompting her to immediately let go. "A-anyway, let's change the subject. Have any of you heard of Brain Burst?"

All of Meg's group nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah, me and Meg found the program on your Neurolinkers about three months ago," Suguha explained. "We don't know how it got there but it did come in handy. You see, there was an incident about two months ago. Meg and I were attacked by a monster who had acceleration powers. We were able to challenge him to a battle in the Accelerated World and won, but before we could get any answers, he disappeared, both in Brain Burst and in the real world."

"Just like Cyan Demon," Kazuto said. "He kept challenging Kuroba to a battle, but she kept running away since she was in hiding. When he went after her in the real world, me, Frank and Asuna fought him and won. Then he disappeared without a trace as well."

"We've had a few more run-ins with monsters after that," Suguha continued. "So Meg and I decided to find everyone so we could fight them together."

"A good idea," Kuroba agreed. "There's strength in numbers. Me, Frank, Kazuto, Asuna and Shino have reformed the Black Legion, the Nega Nebulus. Would you guys like to join up?"

"We'd love to," Klein said. "For some reason Agil and I have Brain Burst as well, but we're sure as hell not complaining since that means we get to fight with you all."

"Awesome!" Frank said with a smile. "Now that we're all together again, nothing can stop us!"

"Yeah!" the others agreed.

* * *

Frank and Meg were heading for the former's apartment. He had sent a message to his mother that he had a surprise for her, which Rias was eager to see.

"So you've got a new foster mother?" Meg questioned.

"Yeah. She's really nice and was a big help to me. I think you'll really like her."

"I hope so." Meg held her right arm with her left hand nervously. "Hey Frank, do you have any memories of Mom and Dad dying?"

Frank slowly nodded. "Only brief flashes. I can remember someone saving us, but for some reason I can't make out her face."

"Me neither. Do you think we'll ever see her again? I really want to thank her for what she did."

"Maybe, we'll just have to wait and see."

Frank and Meg then entered the apartment, where they found Rias already inside. For a brief second, the Dark Swordsman could have sworn his mother looked shocked and relieved soon after at the sight of them.

"Who is this, Frank?" Rias asked slowly.

"Mom, this is Meg," Frank said firmly. "She's my sister."

Naturally, the older woman was shocked by the news.

"What? But you two don't even look alike."

Frank simply smirked before closing his eyes. He let out a strained grunt as his hair briefly changed from black to brown; his core flashing wildly. Eventually he was forced to cancel the transformation and fell to his knees.

"Brother!" Meg said in concern as she knelt beside him.

"Are you alright?" Rias added as she knelt in front of her son.

"It's no good," Frank wheezed. "I can't… change back… into my old look."

"But it wasn't like that before," Meg argued as she helped her brother up. "What could've happened to change that?"

Rias bit her lip as she had an idea on why her foster son's appearance won't return.

"I think I know," the redhead spoke up. "The night I found Frank, he was a teenager, but he was wearing strange clothes and had the hair and eye color you see now. Then he suddenly changed into a child, but his hair and eyes stayed the same. I then took him in and watched him grow up."

"So the reason my brother's stuck like this is because he had a second childhood in his Marth avatar?" Meg questioned.

"Somewhat," Rias said. "Whenever Frank did change into Marth, he became a teenager again, but would turn back into a child again once he reverted. What I'm trying to say is that Marth's characteristics must have overwritten Frank's, meaning whatever that was left of the old Frank is gone."

The brown-haired girl felt sadness creeping in her heart. Even though she knew that the boy beside her was still her brother by blood, she couldn't help but feel that she lost a connection with him.

"Hey, don't worry," Frank said as he hugged his sister from the side. "We may not look alike, but we're still family. That won't ever change."

Meg couldn't help but smile and returned the embrace. "You're right. It does matter if we don't look similar, we're still family by blood, and that's what matters."

The family spent the next few hours chatting, with Meg staying over for dinner. Rias offered to let her stay with them, even though they knew they didn't have the room, but Meg respectfully declined since she had a place with Suguha. But she did promise that she would visit frequently and that she and Suguha would be transferring to Frank's school. Rias did look somewhat disappointed that the younger sibling wouldn't stay with them.

"It's really great to have you back, Frank," Meg said as she and her brother walked out of the apartment and stood in the hallway.

"Same," Frank replied. "Maybe we could do some tag team matches together? I'd love to see what you can do in the Accelerated World."

Meg simply smirked. "I'd like that. Anyway, I'll see you later."

Frank then watched his sister walk off. For once in a long time, Frank found himself looking forward to the future ahead.

**To be continued**

* * *

**And so the Alfheim Warriors are reunited at last, save for Lisbeth. I originally planned for them to be found slowly, but this was just a good way to bring them back. Anyway, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**


	13. Old Ghosts

**December 24th, 2056**

Kazuto wasn't a big fan of Christmas. It mainly had to do with him trying to get the revival item to bring back Sachi in Sword Art Online, only for him to be disappointed when he learned of its limit. But it also had to do with Sachi's final message to him, which had left him in tears. Since then he avoided joining guilds and people, save for Marth, Asuna, Klein and Yuuki while in SAO. But regardless, he wasn't going to let that stop him from enjoying the holiday cheer.

"It sure is cold out," Suguha commented as she and her brother were walking down the street. They were planning on getting some last-minute Christmas presents for everyone since they were going to throw a party at Dicey Café tomorrow night.

The air was pretty chilly, even with their winter coats, but Kazuto just shrugged it off. "Eh, I've been in colder places in Aincrad. This is nothing."

"Easy for you to say!"

It took the duo a few minutes to reach the mall, which was thankfully warm inside.

"So, what should we get for everyone?" Suguha questioned curiously.

"I was hoping you would have some ideas," Kazuto admitted, causing his sister to slouch in exasperation.

"We're gonna be here all day," she groaned out.

Kazuto simply chuckled in amusement. "Well, we might as well look around to see what they have. Come on."

Suguha followed her brother into a video game store and watched him browse through the various games they had in stock. After about five minutes, Kazuto stopped, finding himself somewhat disappointed in their selection.

"Damn it. I was hoping they had it here," Kazuto cursed.

"What were you looking for?" Suguha questioned.

"Frank has a Nintendo Switch and he's trying to get back into Fire Emblem again," Kazuto explained. "I was hoping they had Fire Emblem: Three Houses here, but it looks I'm out of luck."

"Are you talking about this game?" a familiar voice spoke up.

The siblings turned around and saw none other than Kuroba, who had a copy of said game in her hand.

"Kuroba? What are you doing here?" Kazuto said in surprise.

"Same as you, I think. Last-minute Christmas shopping. I remembered Frank mentioning that he got his handle name from the Fire Emblem series and wanted to get back into it, so I came to get one of the games for him. This was the only one I found. Apparently, it's pretty rare despite how popular the series is."

Kazuto felt a temptation to ask for the game, but he knew that Kuroba had feelings for Frank and probably wanted to give it to her protégé, herself.

"Bummer," he said in disappointment. "I guess I'll have to look for something else to give him."

Kuroba paused to think for a moment before saying, "You can have it if you want."

Kazuto immediately perked up in excitement. "Really? Thank you!" He reached for the game, only for Kuroba to move it away from him.

" _But_ you have to help me find another present," Kuroba added with a smirk. "I'm not leaving this mall empty-handed."

"Deal!" Kazuto said without even thinking, prompting his Legion Master to hand him the game.

The girls then watched as the Graphite Edge player went to the register to pay for the Fire Emblem: Three Houses game.

"Your brother's really predictable sometimes," Kuroba said in amusement.

"Yeah, but he's got a good heart," Suguha answered. "I'm a little surprised to see you here, Kuroba. I would've thought you had gotten your Christmas shopping done ahead of time."

"Well I had to juggle a few part-time jobs between my sword training with Frank. And I wanted to avoid any run-ins with him while I was shopping so I could surprise him. It just so happened that this would be my only day to do so."

"Why's that?"

"Frank and Meg decided to spend the majority of the day together. Apparently there was an incident in their lives that happened on this very day, but neither of them will tell me about it."

Suguha, on the other hand, knew exactly what it was. It was something that affected the Storm siblings deeply, something that can never fully heal. Grief filled her eyes, which caught the Black King's notice.

"Wait, do you know what it is?" Kuroba questioned.

Suguha slowly nodded. "Of course I do. But it might be better if you wait for Frank to tell you himself. It's… something that's really personal to him and Meg."

"I see," Kuroba said slowly before noticing Kazuto return to them. "About time. What took you so long?!"

Kazuto scratched the back of his head sheepishly while he carried a small plastic bag containing the game he just bought. "Sorry. The guy at the register kept talking about how many hours he put into Three Houses and wouldn't let me pay until he was done. So where should we go next?"

"Hmm, it might not be a good idea to get Frank another video game since I want my gift to be really special. So…"

"How about a necklace?" Suguha suggested. "I remember Frank used to wear one when he was little, but he lost it during a field trip."

"That's a great idea, Sugu," Kazuto said with a gentle smile.

Kuroba, however, didn't seem to sure. "Uh, really? Wouldn't that be a little much? I mean, Frank and I aren't even a couple."

"Nonsense," Kazuto said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, causing her to yelp in surprise. "We all know you have feelings for him. This'll show that you really care about him."

Kuroba found her face getting hot as her cheeks became beet-red. "I-if you say so."

* * *

Frank and Meg were wandering through a cemetery, which was covered with snow. Even though it was afternoon, the cloudy sky made it a little dark. Frank had his hands in his coat pockets while Meg was carrying a bouquet of roses.

"Another Christmas Eve," Meg said slowly, her tone having a pang of sadness in it.

"Yeah. It's still hard to believe, even after all these years," Frank agreed.

The siblings stopped at a pair of gravestones. On the right gravestone read: "Here lies Tony Storm. Beloved Father. April 5th, 1985-December 24th, 2018" while the left one read: "Here lies Serena Storm. Beloved Mother. February 15th, 1984-December 24th, 2018."

Meg placed the bouquet between the two gravestones and crouched down. "Mom. Dad. It's been a while," she said softly. "A lot has happened since we were last here. Frank and I…" Her voice caught in her throat as she struggled to figure out what to say. "We're back together again. Just like you wanted us to be. And I promise, we won't let anything separate us again."

Even with most of his memories blocked, Frank could still remember the terror he felt that night. And how it caused him to become distant from his sister, his only remaining relative.

_"Maybe that's what drew me and Kazuto together,"_ Frank thought. _"We both lost our birth parents to tragedy and grew distant from our loved ones. It took us getting trapped in SAO for us to realize our mistake."_

"Are you ready to go?" Frank asked after a long silence.

A chilly wind blew past them, causing their hair and coats to sway.

Meg paused for a moment before standing back up. "Yeah. Let's go."

Suddenly the area became blue as the siblings found themselves in the Accelerated World before that melted away and became the Graveyard stage. Meg's avatar was called Emerald Fencer. She gained long green hair that went down to her waist and green eyes. Her outfit was a green overcoat with gold trimming along with a silver breastplate, brown leather gloves and boots, along with a brown scabbard strapped to her waist that held a rapier.

"A challenge, here?" Black Wolf said in surprise.

"Well, well," a familiar voice said. "Long time no see, Black Wolf!"

The siblings turned ninety degrees and saw none other than Nickel Doll and Sand Duct approach them.

"You guys again?" Black Wolf asked, somewhat disappointed.

"Do you know these guys, Brother?" Emerald Fencer questioned.

"Yeah, me, Edge and Sniper kicked their asses a few months ago. Didn't think I'd run into them again."

Nickel Doll practically fumed in anger at the statement. "Why you?! This time will be different! Now it's just two on two! You're going down, wolfie!"

"Oh," a confident smirk appeared on Black Wolf's face while drawing his swords, "Since you went through the trouble of challenging me, I guess I've got no choice but to oblige. What do you say, Sister?"

"I'm down for a fight," Emerald Fencer said as she drew her rapier, which matched her color scheme. "I'm ready when you are."

Sand Duct looked a little nervous at the confidence the opposing pair had. "Uh, Doll, maybe this wasn't a good idea."

"Grow a spine, Duct!" Nickel Doll scolded. "They're just trying to unnerve us. This is our best chance to defeat Black Wolf without his partner nearby. We can't waste it."

Little did the duo know that Black Wolf had actually grown stronger since their last encounter, and that even without Kirito/Graphite Edge, he was still a force to be reckoned with. Tin Writer and a few other Burst Linkers were spectating the match from the trees.

"This will be an interesting fight," Tin Writer said inquisitively. "Good luck, Black Wolf."

* * *

Nothing in the jewelry store was standing out to her. Kuroba was getting frustrated as she browsed through the different pendants, trying to find something that suited Frank, but most of the ones she found were either for girls or too generic.

"Damn it," Kuroba cursed under her breath. "At this rate I'll never get a gift for Frank."

Even after she had confessed her feelings to her protégé, she noticed that he still kept his distance from her, at least on an emotional level. From what she learned from Asuna and Kazuto, it was because Frank had lost control of his powers during the Demon War and would've killed Kazuto had Yuuki not took the blow herself, giving up her life instead. Kuroba immediately felt sympathetic and understood why Frank was so reluctant to enter another relationship with someone else, but that didn't mean he had to be alone for the rest of his life. After all, she vowed to shoulder all his fears and regrets so they wouldn't weigh him down and she wasn't planning on breaking it.

When Christmas was drawing closer, Kuroba figured it was her best chance to make Frank realize that she was there for him, that he can rely on her. She felt like someone was encouraging her to not give up on the Dark Swordsman, no matter how many times he pushed her away. She hadn't told anyone about it, not even Frank, but she suspected that it was Yuuki's spirit, wanting to save Frank from his pain as well.

Kuroba stared at her bracelet, or more specifically, at the purple sword charm, in longing. She remembered finding the charm outside the New National Dome a week after Marth had rescued her at the museum eight years ago. For some reason, she felt drawn to it, like it was calling out to her. She knew with ever fiber of her being that it was no ordinary charm and desperately wanted to learn its secret. However, even after showing her charm to all of the former Alfheim Warriors, hoping they could clue her in on what it was, she was disappointed that they didn't know either.

"Hey, Kuroba, did you find anything?" Kazuto spoke up. Suguha had gone to a different store for her own shopping, leaving him and their Legion Master alone.

The Black King snapped out of her thoughts and said, "No. Nothing here seems to fit Frank's style."

The Graphite Edge player couldn't help but notice the disappointment in her tone. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kuroba passed off, not wanting to show her vulnerable side to him. "I guess I'll have to think of something else to give Frank."

"Excuse me, miss." A store clerk suddenly approached the duo. "I couldn't help but notice you browsing through our selection. You wouldn't happen to be shopping for someone special, would you?"

"I…" Kuroba stopped herself to collect her thoughts. "I am. But nothing here looks like something he would like."

"I see. I think there might be something you'd like. Come with me."

The clerk led the duo to the counter, where he pulled out a small black box. "This is something I made myself. I was planning on putting it on display, but I think this might suit your needs." He gingerly opened the box and showed its contents to the teens.

Inside the box was a sterling silver rope chain with a wolf charm, which was made of the same metal and was about the size of a quarter. However, what really caught Kuroba's attention were the two black gems that served as the wolf's eyes.

"Whoa," Kuroba breathed. "Did you use onyx for the eyes?"

"No, I actually used a part of the large black crystal that was salvaged from the ocean. It was really expensive to get, and it took me several tries to get the size right. But it was worth every second of it."

"You used the Shadow Crystal?!" Kazuto exclaimed in shock. He noticed that people were staring at him from his outburst, so he whispered, "Don't you know how dangerous that thing is? That crystal nearly destroyed Tokyo."

The clerk looked genuinely surprised. "And how do you know that? According to the authorities, they could never find out its purpose. The most they could suspect was that it was the Shadow Fortress's power source," he replied. "I give you my word that I mean no ill will. I just figured that maybe I could make something good out of the Shadow Crystal, which had caused so much misery."

Kazuto immediately fell silent. He could vividly remember how uneasy he felt when he was near the Shadow Crystal during the Demon War, but he didn't sense any darkness coming from the wolf pendant.

Kuroba stared at the pendant, debating what she should do. It didn't take her long to make her decision. "How much for it?" she asked.

The clerk simply smiled as he closed the box. "Normally I'd charge a high price for something as unique as this, but since it's the holidays, I'll give you a discount. How about $150?"

(I do not know how Japanese currency works so I'll be using the American currency when it comes to prices, just to make it easier on myself.)

"I'll take it," Kuroba said firmly.

The clerk then rang up the pendant before Kuroba paid in cash. He then put the box in a small bag and handed it to the girl.

"I hope the person you want to give this to likes it," the clerk said.

"Me too. Thank you, sir."

Kuroba and Kazuto then left the store to meet back up with Suguha.

"Are you sure about this, Kuroba?" Kazuto questioned. "I'm one of the few people who knows how dangerous the Shadow Crystal is. I don't think it's safe."

"That's funny coming from you. I recall reading that you used dark magic during the Demon War," Kuroba answered. "Just because something originates from darkness doesn't mean it's evil. It's how you use that power that matters."

Kazuto let out a deep breath. "You make a good point. Besides, Lunara is basically a sword of darkness, but Frank has no problems using it in battle. Maybe there can be some good in that pendant."

Kuroba simply smiled in triumph. "I'm glad you agree."

* * *

Emerald Fencer was really enjoying herself. Not only was she with her brother again, but she was fighting by his side, just like they were thirty years ago. Black Wolf was engaging Nickel Doll, using his lightning to cancel out her own, much to the metal-type's annoyance.

"Not fair!" Nickel Doll shouted in protest. "Just how many abilities do you have?!"

"Like I'd tell you," Black Wolf said simply.

Unlike Nickel Doll, Black Wolf could use his lightning from a distance, and even if his opponent could get close enough to attack, she'd have to worry about getting slashed by his swords.

Sand Duct wasn't having much luck either. Every time he tried to punch at Emerald Fencer, the rapier-user simply dodged before countering with a rapier skill, mainly Linear. He was losing hit points rapidly and would lose if something didn't change.

"Sand Blast!" the brown avatar shouted, causing him to unleash a vortex of sand at his opponent.

"Tsk," Emerald Fencer grunted as she jumped away to avoid the attack, however that's just what Sand Duct wanted.

"Doll, let's do this!" Sand Duct shouted.

Nickel Doll immediately disengaged from her battle with Black Wolf and jumped in front of her partner.

"Turbo Molecular!" Sand Duct shouted. The avatar brought his turbine fists together and began absorbing the wind he was generating.

"What's he doing?" Emerald Fencer questioned.

As if to answer her question, Sand Duct swung his arms at her and her partner and attempted to draw them closer with a vacuum of strong wind. It took everything the siblings had to hold their ground, though Emerald Fencer was the closer of the two.

"The turbines in his arms are dispersing the molecules in the air and creating a vacuum," Black Wolf realized as he shielded his head with his arms. "The wind itself may not be harmful, but it'll drag us in for a close-range attack."

"That can't be all they're planning," Emerald Fencer replied while doing the same. "There must be more to their strategy than this."

"You got that right!" Nickel Doll exclaimed. "Anode Cathode!" The metal avatar created a purple orb of electricity in her hands.

Suddenly Emerald Fencer cried out in pain as she found herself being struck by lightning, which was constantly draining her hit points.

"Fencer!" Black Wolf exclaimed in worry.

"I-I don't understand," Emerald Fencer struggled to say as she was electrocuted. "How is her attack hitting me from this range?"

"Would do you guys think of me and Sandy's gorgeous attack?" Nickel Doll bragged. "We've been practicing this since our last battle. It may not be as good as Purple Thorn's attack or your partner's, but it's good enough."

Black Wolf gasped as he realized what was happening. "It's a glow discharge. When voltage meets electrodes, it creates plasma. With enough low pressure, electricity can be conducted through the air."

"So what are you gonna do now, Black Wolf?" Nickel Doll goaded. "You gonna jump in and save your partner? Do that and you'll get electrocuted instead. Face it, there's nothing you can do."

Shockingly, Black Wolf let out a confident chuckle. "Oh really? You sure about that?"

Suddenly Black Wolf changed into his beast form before jumping over his sister, taking the blow himself, causing her to fall to her knees as she tried to catch her breath. He then dug his claws into the ground to hold himself in place. Black Wolf was taking damage from Nickel Doll's special move, but it was draining his hit points at a much slower rate than it did for Emerald Fencer.

"What the? What's going on?" Sand Duct said in confusion. "There's no way wolves are resistant to electricity!"

"Interesting," Tin Writer commented as the other spectators watched in awe.

"I guess you can call me a special kind of wolf," the black avatar replied. "In this form, my attack power and speed are greatly increased, at the cost of my physical defense taking a big hit. However, I also gain a high resistance to special attacks. Not to mention I have a lightning resistance buff thanks to my own lightning."

"What? No fair!" Nickel Doll protested.

"That's just how it is, dollface," Black Wolf replied as he gave the semblance of a smirk. "But I'm not the one you should be worried about."

"Huh?" Nickel Doll suddenly looked up, where she saw none other than Emerald Fencer hovering above her with green Sylph wings on her back. "Are you freaking kidding me?! She can fly too?!"

"You got that right!" Emerald Fencer shouted, her rapier in its sheath. "Now it's payback time. Valflame!"

Emerald Fencer's special gauge went down to thirty percent as she summoned a large sphere of red flames in her hands. She then pushed her hands at her opponents, causing the sphere to become a torrent of flames. Nickel Doll and Sand Duct could only watch before being consumed by the flames, taking out the rest of their hit points.

Emerald Fencer landed next to her brother, causing her wings to disappear, while he switched back to his human form.

"We won!" she exclaimed as she practically threw herself at Black Wolf into a hug.

The dual wielder nearly lost his balance from the sudden motion but he somehow managed to catch himself and spun his sister around. "We sure did," Black Wolf agreed. "You've certainly become powerful. I'm proud of you, Thorrnn."

Emerald Fencer simply smiled with joy. "I never thought I'd hear that name again. Let's promise to grow stronger together, so we can honor Mom and Dad's memory."

Black Wolf grimaced as his sister gave him a puppy-eyed face. He tried, keyword being "tried", to resist it, which lasted for about a nanosecond. "Fine," he said in defeat. "You know I can't say no to that face."

"Yay!" Emerald Fencer said in triumph.

Meanwhile Tin Writer was watching the duo closely, ignoring all the praises he heard the other spectators give them.

"That form, it couldn't be," he muttered to himself so no one could hear him. "I knew I recognized those swords, but that other form proves it. Black Wolf… is the Dark Swordsman."

* * *

**December 25th, 2056**

Kazuto, Frank, and Asuna were heading to Dicey Café for the Christmas party. They all had bags that contained wrapped presents for all their friends, though Asuna was also carrying a container of grilled chicken that she made at her home.

"Feels like it's been a while since the three of us were alone together," Asuna commented.

"Yeah," Frank agreed. "But I'm glad we were able to find most of our friends. The only one who's missing is Lisbeth. I wonder where she is."

"I don't know," Kazuto said. "For some reason it makes me uneasy, but that might just be my nerves messing with me. Ever since our battle with Cyan Demon, I've kept my guard up in case his allies decided they want revenge. Now I know they were going after Sugu and Meg. Disgusting."

"I don't think Sugu was the target," Frank replied. "From I gathered from all our encounters with the monsters, they seemed pretty set on getting revenge on _me_. They probably went after Meg since she's my sister and Sugu got caught in the crossfire."

"That does seem possible," Asuna said. "Luckily those two can take care of themselves really well."

Both the boys chuckled in amusement.

"You got that right," Kazuto said with a smile. "I almost pity the monsters that challenged them to a fight."

Soon the trio arrived at the café, where they found the other Black Legion members already inside. The entire café was decorated for the holiday, including a Christmas tree that had several presents under it. What was interesting about the tree was that instead of a star at the top, there was a fairy with long black hair and wearing a pink floral dress, which seemed familiar to the new arrivals.

A large table was set with a fancy white tablecloth and candles, along with enough plates and silverware for everyone. There was also a large variety of food, ranging from glazed ham, baked rolls, mashed potatoes and even baked turkey.

"Um, are we late?" Asuna asked curiously.

"Nope," Suguha replied. "We just told you guys a different time so we could get everything ready. It didn't seem right making you guys do the work since you three were the first to reunite."

"If you say so," Asuna said slowly, though she was a little disappointed that she didn't help with setting up the party.

While she, Kazuto and Frank set their presents under the tree, Ayano eagerly asked, "When are we gonna open presents?"

Andrew let out a hearty laugh. "Patience, Silica. We'll do presents after we eat. It'd be a shame to let all this food get cold."

"Aw," Ayano said, lowering her head in disappointment.

Frank noticed Kuroba sitting by herself, keeping her distance from the others.

"You okay?" Frank asked when he went over to his guardian, who nearly jumped from the sound of his voice.

"Y-yeah, I'm just a little nervous," the Black King answered hastily as they observed the others chatting amongst themselves. "Everyone sure is really close with each other. It's almost… relaxing."

"It just goes to show how deep our friendship is," Frank said before locking eyes with her. "We may not remember our pasts very well, but our bonds are as strong as ever."

A moment of silence passed between them until Kazuto ruined it.

"Frank! Kuroba! Are you guys gonna keep staring at each other or are you gonna join us?"

Both black avatar players blushed in embarrassment as they noticed the others were staring at them, who all looked rather amused at the sight. In order to prevent more embarrassment, Frank and Kuroba hurried over to the others, where they found two seats next to each other that were conveniently empty.

"I feel like this is a trap," Kuroba commented slowly.

Klein simply chuckled. "Nope. We just thought you two lovebirds wanted to sit together," he said smugly.

"It's not like that!" Frank and Kuroba shouted in denial, their faces having a red tinge.

Nonetheless, they did take the empty seats, but they refused to meet each other's gaze. Dinner went by surprisingly fast, and luckily for a certain duo, they were spared from any further teasing. Once everyone was done eating, they all gathered around the Christmas tree to hand out presents.

"Okay Klein, this one's from Asuna," Shino said as she handed a small wrapped box to the red head.

Klein immediately tore off the wrapping paper and saw that it was a samurai movie. "Wow!" he said in excitement. "Thanks a bunch, Asuna!"

The Argent Flash player giggled in response. "Since you always talked about samurais in ALO, I thought you might like this."

"You bet I do. I've been looking for this movie forever."

Meg then handed Ayano a present that was from Frank. When Ayano opened it, she found that it was a wooden-framed picture of her and her little-feathered dragon, Pina, in Alfheim Online.

Ayano could feel the tears of joy welling up in her eyes. "No way. How did you get this?"

"You'd be surprised what you can dig up on the Internet," Frank said matter-of-factly. "Wasn't easy but I knew you'd want some reminder of our old lives and this just looked like the best option."

The young girl promptly gave the Black Wolf player a big hug, constantly thanking him for the picture. A few more present openings rolled by before they got to Kazuto's gift for his best friend.

"Here, Frank," Kazuto said simply as he handed the wrapped game to the blue-eyed teen. "I think you might like this."

Frank gingerly took the gift from his friend and removed the wrapping paper. Once he saw what it was, his eyes lit up in excitement. "You got me Fire Emblem: Three Houses! I've been looking everywhere for this game!"

Kazuto let out a small laugh. "It wasn't easy to find since video game consoles are so hard to find nowadays, especially Switch games. You said you wanted to get back into Fire Emblem again so here you are."

"Thanks, Kazuto," Frank said with a big smile. "Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome."

Kuroba immediately felt self-conscious of her gift as she watched the two boys talk about video game stuff. Suddenly she felt Suguha nudge her shoulder.

"Lighten up, Kuroba," Suguha said warmly. "I'm sure Frank will like your gift too."

"Really?" Kuroba answered, her usual confidence missing.

Suguha simply placed a small black bow with a silver bow on it in her Legion Master's hands. "I know so."

The Black Lotus player took a deep breath before she marched over to the male teens.

"Um, Frank, this is from me," Kuroba said as confidently as she could muster, though she couldn't stop the slight blush appearing on her face.

Kazuto immediately moved to the side, while Frank said, "Oh really. Thanks."

Frank took the box and opened it. His eyes widened as he saw the wolf pendant inside, staring at him with its black eyes.

"Whoa," Frank said in disbelief. "You got this for me?"

Kuroba could feel her blush deepen and couldn't bring herself to look at her protégé. "Yeah. I figured since you liked wolves, that this would suit you. The eyes are made from a part of the Shadow Crystal. I know you have a bad experience with that thing, but maybe if there's any power left within it that you can use it for good."

Frank thought back to the final day of the Demon War, which was the Alfheim Warriors final battle with Zarc, minus Lisbeth and Celina, who stayed behind to protect Tokyo. He remembered summoning Siren in order to get an edge over the Demon King, only for Zarc to use the Shadow Crystal to create a dark duplicate of the Artifice. Everything went to hell after that, especially when Zarc had Dark Siren fire at the city, causing massive damage and some fatalities.

To this day, Frank still didn't fully understand what happened to him at that moment. While he felt shock, fear and anger over Dark Siren's attack, there's no way that it could've driven him over the edge like that. It felt like… at that moment, someone else was trying to take him over. He had tried his hardest to suppress it, but whoever it was, they were too powerful for him to contain and combined with the conflicting feelings that were surging through Frank's mind at the time, caused him to finally snap and lose control of himself.

Even now Frank only remembered brief moments of his solo battle with Zarc. When that unknown power became too much for Frank to handle, he ended up releasing it all, nearly destroying Tokyo in the process. Dark Siren was destroyed and Zarc plummeted into the ocean, presumably dead. However, there was one blast that was heading directly for Kirito had Yuuki not used her own body as a shield, fatally wounding her in the process. Because of the abnormality of the attack, Yuuki's wound couldn't be healed, even with magic. She ended dying in Kirito's arms.

_"I'll never be able to make up for what I did,"_ Frank thought to himself as he stared at the pendant. _"Even if I wasn't in control of myself, I still did terrible things. I'm not even sure if I deserve to be happy, much less with someone like Kuroba. Maybe me being alone would be better for everyone. At least that way I can't hurt anyone."_

"Well, what do you think?" Kuroba asked slowly, getting a little nervous from the sudden silence.

After one moment, Frank looked her in the eye and said, "I like it, really. I think we could do some good with this pendant. Thanks."

Kuroba couldn't help but sigh in relief. "Thank goodness. For a second I was worried that you'd hate it. Glad to see I was wrong."

Suddenly the duo could hear a loud snickering, which turned out to be from Klein.

"What's so funny?" Kuroba questioned fiercely.

"Nothing, just look up."

Frank and Kuroba did as they were told and did a hard gulp. There was a mistletoe dangling above them.

"Uh, when was that there?" the Black King said nervously.

"Don't mind that," Shino said with a mischievous smirk. "You know the tradition. Kiss!"

Naturally both Frank and Kuroba reeled back in surprise.

"Come on. Don't leave us hanging!" Meg begged, though she was enjoying seeing her brother so worked up. "Kiss her, Brother!"

"Uh, um," Frank stuttered out. He could tell that Kuroba was trying to find a way out of this as well, but she looked as stumped as him.

Right when Kuroba was about to form a reply, she felt kiss her on the forehead, causing her mind to go blank. She felt her body immediately heat up from the contact and lost her ability to speak. The kiss lasted for only two seconds, which did disappoint her in a way, but once Frank backed away, she could feel her thoughts begin to return.

_"Frank, Frank kissed me!"_ Kuroba practically screamed in her head. _"Sure it was on my forehead, but still…"_

She could hear a few of the other Black Legion members let out sounds of disappointment.

"That doesn't count!" Klein exclaimed. "You have to kiss her on the lips, Marth!"

Frank didn't respond and instead went over to the table to sit down where he stared at the wolf pendant his guardian gave him. Kuroba attempted to go to him, but found Asuna take her hand instead.

"Let him be for now," Asuna said soothingly. "I had a feeling that would happen. You just need to take things slow with Marth. Eventually, I know he'll open his heart to you just as you did for him."

Kuroba couldn't bring herself to look the chestnut-haired girl in the eye while Kazuto went over to Frank and began to chat quietly.

"But it hurts so much," Kuroba said slowly as tears leaked out of her eyes. "I know he has feelings for me too, and I know why he doesn't act on them but it's not fair for either of us. We're supposed to be partners but he won't let me in. I just wish he'd let me help him."

Asuna wrapped the hurt girl with her arms and pulled her into a comforting hug, which she returned. "I know, Kuroba, I know. But you have to keep trying. That's where Yuuki made her mistake. She hoped that Marth would reach out to her if she gave him some space, but he never did. He just kept shouldering his burdens alone. Don't make the same mistake she did."

"Okay," Kuroba exhaled. "I'll do my best."

"I know you will. I know you can break through to him. Just don't give up."

Unbeknownst to everyone, a young man (around high school age) with black hair and yellow eyes was spying on them through the window, or more specifically, on Kuroba. (If you want to know what his hairstyle is, look up Jellal from Fairy Tail.) He had a slim build, but he was as tall as Klein.

"I finally found you, Black Lotus," the young man said. "Soon, I'll make you pay for your crimes. Nothing will stop me from having my vengeance."

Both Frank and Kazuto felt their Hypersense go off, but by the time they looked out the window, the man had disappeared into the night.

"Did you feel that?" Kazuto questioned.

"I think so," Frank replied. "Was someone watching us just now?"

"I don't know, but I got a bad feeling this won't be the last time this happens. We need to stay on-guard, no matter where we are."

"Yeah. No kidding."

**To be continued**

* * *

**Poor Kuroba, she really has her work cut out for her. It's hard to help someone who feels like he doesn't deserve it. Will she be able to get through to Marth or will he just keep shutting her out? Plus who was that guy hanging outside of Dicey's? You'll have to wait to find out.**

**Hypersense: An ability shared between Marth and Kirito. It is an Outside System Skill that originated in Sword Art Online and was one of the hardest skills to master. It allows one to sense the presence of another player, even if they're using a Hiding skill, and can even detect a player's intent to kill. This skill eventually carried to Marth and Kirito's real life selves and has allowed them to sense danger before it strikes which will come in handy in the battles to come.**


	14. Asuna's New Move

**Just a brief disclaimer: From now on, I'll be partially using the Accel World light novels as a reference point for some descriptions, so if there are any that feel like they're from the light novels, that's why.**

* * *

**April 7th, 2057**

Asuna was tossing and turning in her sleep. She was in some kind of ice fortress as her Undine avatar. She could see the Alfheim Warriors engaging a frost giant dressed in regal clothing and a crown. Asuna was in the back of the room with Sinon, mainly for healing and ranged attacks respectively.

The guild did manage to take out one of his three HP bars, but then he countered with an ice breath that froze all of the melee Alfheim Warriors in blocks of ice. Thrymr then slammed his right foot on the ground, creating a shockwave that shattered the ice and inflicted massive damage to the melee fairies.

"Oh no," Asuna said in worry as she immediately casted a healing spell on her downed comrades.

However, Thrymr wasn't going to allow the group time to heal and readied to crush them under his heel.

"Crap," Sinon cursed as she quickly readied a fire arrow.

The Cait Sith archer immediately fired it at the boss, which multiplied into many projectiles and all struck him in the chest and head. The attack caused Thrymr to focus on Sinon rather than the downed fairies and proceeded to charge at her.

"Sinon! Keep him distracted for a few minutes!" Kirito commanded before he and the others began drinking healing potions to restore their HP.

"Roger that," Sinon said simply.

The blue-haired archer was nimble enough to avoid all of Thrymr's attacks, and she was eventually supported by most of the Alfheim Warriors as they tried to fight off the frost giant. The battle was quickly becoming a stalemate, until the thing Asuna was dreading happened.

Marth activated his Dragon Soul, changing him into a massive black dragon with golden eyes. Asuna and the others then watched as the dragon and giant did battle with neither able to overpower the other.

"Don't give in, Marth!" Asuna pleaded desperately as she clutched her hands close to her chest. She didn't know if Marth heard her or not, but he seemed to be in control of himself, however the Undine knew that it wouldn't last for long.

_"I have to start chanting_ that _spell so it'll be ready to go when Marth goes berserk,"_ the Lightning Flash thought before saying, "Everyone, I need to start casting a spell. You'll be on your own for healing for a bit!"

"Okay," Lisbeth replied, somewhat confused. "But do you mind telling us what the spell is?"

Asuna didn't answer as she began chanting a very high-level spell. Eventually Marth did lose control of his dragon form, his eyes turning purple in the process, and began attacking his friends along with Thrymr. Luckily Asuna managed to finish chanting the spell.

"Don't worry, Marth," the Undine said. "I've got your back. Lost In Thoughts All Alone!"

Suddenly both she and Marth were surrounded by a veil of water. The black dragon roared in defiance but found himself immobilized as the water consumed him. When the veil finally parted, it revealed a downed Marth in his Spriggan form.

Asuna then woke with a start. She held her forehead in her right hand as she struggled to control her breathing.

"That dream," she muttered to herself, "it felt way too real. Could that have been one of my memories?"

Unbeknownst to Asuna, a new ability for her Duel Avatar had just unlocked, one that would change everything in the Accelerated World.

* * *

**April 8th, 2057**

Asuna was at Umesato High School's gym for a welcoming ceremony for the new school year. She, Kuroba, Kazuto, and Frank were now seniors, while Meg, Shino and Sugu were juniors. There were too many students for Asuna to spot any of her friends, but she knew they were there, mainly because students were required to attend. She could still remember the time Frank and Kazuto tried to skip the welcoming ceremony because they said it was too boring, only for them to get caught by a teacher and getting detention for about a week because of it.

All of the student council were on the stage, with a certain Vice-President giving a speech in a voice so clear even the people in the back row could hear her, although Asuna doubted that most of the guys in the room weren't even paying attention and were just admiring the Vice-President's beauty.

"The majority of you are likely feeling anticipation and unease in equal measure. In particular, the new students among you might be deeply perplexed by this unknown school and these unfamiliar schoolmates. However, I want you to consider this: the people behind you right now looking so calm and comfortable were in the exact same uneasy position, sitting in the exact same seats as you, a year ago, two years ago…"

_"Hard to believe that the person saying these things is the same person branded as the Greatest Traitor in the Accelerated World,"_ Asuna commented as she eyed Kuroba, who was wearing her usual black school uniform and tights.

While the Argent Flash player did trust Kuroba after getting over the bad first impressions she made to deliberately tick her off, she knew that there were things about Kuroba that she kept to herself. It painfully reminded her of a certain blue-eyed dual wielder, but what made Kuroba have her secrets was her concern for her friends, especially Frank.

Speaking of which, Frank and Kuroba's relationship was far beyond complicated. While Kuroba initiated it by recruiting him to Brain Burst and helping him deal with some school bullies, it just kept getting weirder as time went on. Kuroba ended up resonating with Frank, becoming his new Driver, gaining new powers and weaknesses. Some people at the school assumed that Kuroba kept Frank around as a pet, but Asuna knew otherwise. However, if Kuroba did treat Frank like that, she would have to face the Lightning Flash's wrath. Then there were those who seemed to disprove of the Student Vice-President hanging out with the school freak, people Asuna couldn't stand.

"…a year is thirty-one million, five hundred thirty-six thousand seconds, and although this time looms before you now as an eternity, it will pass in a mere instant. Spend it wisely. Thank you."

Kuroba then bowed her head, her long black hair fanning out in front of her before her body bobbed back up along its wave. She then went and joined the line of student council members behind her. Suddenly Asuna noticed Kuroba tense up for a second, her amber eyes focusing on the new junior students, before turning around. Asuna turned her head to see what the Black King was looking at but couldn't find anything suspicious.

_"That's weird. I wonder what caught her attention."_

Kuroba wasn't the only one who felt something amiss, because at the exact same moment she turned her eyes towards the new students, both Frank and Kazuto did the same, their SAO instincts kicking in.

* * *

Asuna was walking to her class where she found Kazuto by the door, who seemed to be doing something online through his Neurolinker.

"Hey Kirito," she greeted warmly. "Is this your room too?"

"Hm…" Kazuto stopped what he was doing and eyed his girlfriend curiously. "Oh, yeah. This is my first period. Man, it's been a while since we've shared a class. If only…"

"Hey, Kazuto. Hey, Asuna," a familiar voice spoke up.

The duo turned around and saw none other than Frank behind them. He was wearing the pendant that Kuroba had gotten for him.

"Looks like we're all sharing a class again," Frank said. "This'll be interesting."

"Yeah. It'll be like old times when it was just the three of us," Asuna added. Suddenly she remembered Kuroba's behavior from the gym. "Hey, did you guys notice Kuroba acting a little strange during the welcoming ceremony?"

The boys locked eyes for a moment, having another one of their famous silent discussions. "No, but I think I know why," Kazuto said. "Near the end of the ceremony, I felt a strange presence coming from the freshman sitting area for a brief moment. I tried to track it down, but it disappeared too quickly."

"Same thing happened to me," Frank admitted. "I thought there might have been a new Burst Linker in the freshman section, so I accelerated to check the matching list. However, I didn't see any new names on it."

"I see," Asuna said slowly. "I shouldn't be surprised you guys would pick that up. That Hypersense of yours really comes in handy. I wish I managed to learn it."

Kazuto simply scratched his head in embarrassment. "Eh, it's not that big a deal. Though it did really help us against Cyan Demon. Now then, if Frank's guess was right and there is a new Burst Linker in the school, that could be a huge problem. Whenever a Burst Linker becomes a guardian, they usually choose someone they know won't transfer schools, because if that student changes to a different school that has other Burst Linkers, the protégé may end up fighting with them. The strongest relationship in the Accelerated World may be the one between guardian and protégé, but school affiliation comes right after."

"You're right, Kirito," Asuna replied. "But Marth couldn't find anyone new on the matching list. So aren't you two overthinking this a little?"

"Not really," Frank said as he leaned on the wall with his arms folded. "Cyan Demon was able to avoid appearing on the matching list whenever he attacked Kuroba. Maybe there's ways to hide your avatar names from the match list, making it impossible for anyone to challenge you."

"But Brain Burst would never allow it," Asuna argued. "The game may be harsh, but it keeps things fair between all the players. I remember there used to be a backdoor program some Burst Linkers used to challenge people through other people's Neurolinkers. Brain Burst then updated itself to make the program useless and anyone who used the program lost all their points, making them lose the game too. So there's no way it would allow a player to hide their name from the match list."

"That's true," Kazuto agreed. "But that doesn't mean it isn't possible. The backdoor program was only found because people were abusing it to the point Brain Burst had to intervene. If I had to guess, whoever made this particular exploit is making sure it stays quiet so the game won't do anything to stop them."

"That's… terrifying," Asuna said. "Um, Kirito, is it okay if we spar a little bit? I need something to take my mind off this."

"Sure. We'll start once we take our seats."

"I'll log in as a spectator," Frank added. "There's no way I'm missing this."

The trio entered the classroom and took their seats, which were all next to each other. None of them bothered to pay attention to the teacher as they all entered the Accelerated World. Asuna then found herself changing into Argent Flash before appearing inside a Factory stage, which had enormous gears and rumbling conveyor belts. She waited for the flaming FIGHT to explode and scatter before rising to her feet.

Standing in front of her was none other than Graphite Edge, who already had his swords drawn. His dark armor made him hard to see in the dimly lit room, but Argent Flash could barely make him out. Black Wolf was also there, lying down on the hard metal floor in his beast form.

"You ready, Asuna?" Graphite Edge questioned.

Argent Flash took a deep breath before drawing her rapier. "Ready as I'll ever be." She prepared to charge at the dual wielder when suddenly she got a notification that she has a new special move. "Huh? What's this?"

"Is something wrong?" Graphite Edge spoke up.

"Uh, time out. I think you guys need to hear this."

That got both the boys curious. Argent Flash opened her Skill List and checked her special moves. "That's weird. I've got a new move called 'Hydro Force'."

"I've never heard of that before," Black Wolf said. "You didn't have anything like that in Alfheim. I wonder what it does. Why don't you charge up your special meter and see what it does? I recommend using Kirito as a punching bag."

"Hey!" Graphite Edge shouted in protest. "Why do I have to be the guinea pig?!"

"Because you guys are already in a match. But you know Asuna doesn't have to hit you to charge up her special meter. She can take a blow herself or by destroying the stage. Whichever suits her."

Luckily for Graphite Edge, or maybe unluckily, Argent Flash decided to destroy parts of the stage with her rapier to build up her special meter. She was taking some damage because of the Factory stage's mechanical parts were designed that way, but it was very minimal.

"Alright, I think I've got enough," Argent Flash said as her special meter reached fifty percent. "Get ready, Kirito, I'm going to unleash my special move."

Graphite Edge braced himself as he tightened his grip on his swords. "Okay. Go for it, Asuna!"

"Hydro Force!" As the fencer said the name of the attack, multiple rings of water began circling her. She then stretched her arms out towards her opponent, causing the water to rage towards him.

Graphite Edge readied himself for the hit as the water struck him but found himself completely unharmed. He wasn't even pushed back by even an inch from where he stood.

"Huh?"

"What?"

Both Argent Flash and Black Wolf's voices sounded confused. Graphite Edge looked himself over and confirmed that he hadn't taken any damage.

"That's weird," Black Wolf said. "Asuna's move definitely hit you and her special gauge did go down. Is it a damage over time effect?"

"Doubt it," Graphite Edge replied. "I've dealt with a few attacks like that before. Usually you get a notice about that and feel it draining you. But still, that was a little anti-climactic."

"Hmm," Black Wolf mused. "Maybe it's not damage or a weakness. Hey Asuna, try attacking Kirito until you restore your special gauge to what it was before!"

"Worth a shot," Argent Flash acknowledged.

"Hey, wait, don't I get a say in this?!" Graphite Edge said in a panic. "You guys know my defense is abysmal!"

"So then switch to your wolf form if you're so worried about it," Black Wolf said casually. "You do have access to Wolf Heart, right?"

Graphite Edge laughed sheepishly as he sheathed his swords. "Oh yeah. I forgot about that." Suddenly he was surrounded by a white aura before he fell onto all fours. Edge let out a strained grunt before his body morphed into a white metallic wolf with black markings and silver eyes.

"Much better," the white wolf replied. "Okay. I'm ready. Don't hold back, Asuna!"

The Lightning Flash simply smirked confidently. "If you say so. Here I come!"

Argent Flash began attacking her boyfriend with her rapier. Unlike Marth's wolf form, Kirito's had a high physical defense and a low magical defense, making him the ideal physical tank. It took a dozen or so rapier skills to reduce Edge's HP by thirty percent, but it did restore Flash's special gauge to half-full again.

"Alright. I'm going to use it again. Hydro Force!"

Argent Flash unleashed a torrent of water at the white wolf, who braced for the blow. However, when it struck him, it wasn't painful, instead it was rather soothing, like a gentle stream. Graphite Edge quickly checked his HP gauge and was shocked at what he saw. He wasn't losing HP, he was _gaining_ HP. The green gauge was going back up to full. Even the scratches Argent Flash made from her attacks faded away.

"No way," Graphite Edge said in disbelief. "It can't be."

His friends were just as shocked as him.

"A special move that _heals_ its target?!" Black Wolf commented. "I've never seen that before. I didn't even think healers existed in Brain Burst."

"That's because they're extremely rare," Graphite Edge replied, his tone almost sounding afraid. "Rarer than the aviation ability. This'll blow up even more than when Black Wolf took to the sky."

* * *

Kuroba was wandering through the school halls, watching as students began heading out for home when suddenly she bumped into Frank.

"Oh, I was just looking for you, Frank," Kuroba said. "I was wondering if we could do some more training today. I managed to free up some of my schedule, even though it's the beginning of the school year."

She had improved immensely over the last few months, to the point where Frank said that she would be ready to start her dual-wielding training very soon.

"I was looking for you too, actually. I'm glad you've got some free time, because we need to talk."

Kuroba noticed the concern in her partner's eyes and knew that it must be serious. They went over to the school lounge, which was completely empty and took their usual seats. Frank then filled her in on what he and the others found out.

"No way," Kuroba said in disbelief, nearly spitting out her tea in shock. "Asuna's a healer?"

"Looks that way," Frank confirmed as he leaned back in his chair. "It makes sense though. Back in Alfheim, Asuna was always our healer, with occasional support from Leafa and Thorrnn. It was only a matter of time before that carried over into her Duel Avatar."

"I see." Kuroba returned her cup to its saucer and gave her protégé a serious look. "Marth, do you realize how serious this is? Once word spreads out about Asuna- no Argent Flash's healing ability, every major Legion will be gunning for her. More so than when you and Kazuto revealed your aviation abilities."

"Just so you know, I've rarely gotten any invitations to join the other Legions, and even then I always turned them down. But still, we need to tell the others about this."

"Agreed. This is something they all need to know. But before we do that, I think you should understand how serious Asuna being a healer is. In the ten-year history of the Accelerated World, there's only been two Burst Linkers with the ability to heal. One managed to dodge the relentless invitations and assassination traps and is doing quite well, but the other, unable to endure being the center of constant battling, decided to leave the Accelerated World."

Frank knew that meant the player uninstalled Brain Burst themselves.

"Well, if pressed, I'd say it was more along the lines of a complicated case of princess syndrome, unable to choose one of the two princes petitioning for her hand, and throwing herself from a tower."

"That's… some interesting imagery," Frank said slowly. "But I can understand why healing powers are so sought after in the Accelerated World. If you fight an opponent and whittle them down, only for their injuries to be restored, it would make winning practically impossible unless you eliminate the healer."

"Exactly," Kuroba said. "What makes it worse is that the enemy will know that you'll go after the healer, so they'll have a field day setting up ambushes, pincer attacks and every trap imaginable."

"But look on the bright side. That means we can do that."

The Black King gave a smug grin. "We can, though I doubt Asuna would approve of her being made into bait for every single battle, but it does give us another tool in our shed."

"Yeah, wait, you said there was just one active healer," Frank realized. "So then, if the Legion that Burst Linker belongs to wanted to, is it possible for them to unite the Accelerated World?"

"It is, but I doubt it'll ever happen."

"Why is that?"

"Simple. Because that healer is currently one of the Six Kings of Pure Color," Kuroba explained. "So even if, for instance, the Legion boasts a win ratio of ninety-nine percent in the team battles, if another king hits that king just once, she loses acceleration. Because of this, the healer never appears on the battlefield."

"One of the kings. What's their color?"

Kuroba lowered her gaze, as if she was wrestling with something for quite a while before she finally shook her head. "I'm sorry, Frank. I don't want you to hear her name right now. I don't want you to be marginally curious about her."

It took Frank a few seconds to connect the dots. "She's your guardian, isn't she?"

Kuroba gasped in shock. "How did you know?"

"Simple. There's only one person you absolutely refuse to tell me about, and that's your guardian."

The Black Lotus player lowered her head in shame. _"I'm such a hypocrite. I keep trying to get Frank to open up to me, yet I keep things from him too."_

"I don't know what happened between you two, but I know better than to force you to tell me something you're not ready to share. If you want me to stay away from her, I'll listen."

Kuroba stared at the Aegis, her eyes filled with awe before smiling. "Thank you, Frank. I know that you'd refuse the offer from the other kings, but this one is the one I can't help but worry about. There is something so absolute about their attraction, to go that far."

Frank simply smirked. "Please, you'd kick my ass if I ever showed signs of joining another king."

"True, but you're the one who holds all the power." Kuroba brought her right hand to her chest, right where her crystal was hidden under her shirt. "You're the only thing keeping me alive. We may share this life, but you can sever it whenever you choose. No matter what I do, I'll always be at your mercy."

The Aegis shook his head. "Don't say that. You know I would never do that. It's just not right."

"I know, and I trust you, Frank." Wanting to change the subject, she added, "So, are you excited for the school trip?"

"Huh? Oh, sort of. Actually, it'll be nice to get away from everything for a while."

"That's one way to put it. All of the seniors are going on a weeklong trip to Okinawa. Remember, we leave in four days."

"I know, I know." Frank looked at the nearby clock to check the time. "Hey, Kuroba, do you mind if we take a detour really quick?"

"No, why?" she questioned.

"Nothing, there's just something I want to see."

* * *

Kuroba allowed Frank to lead her to the martial arts area, where she heard restrained cheers from inside along with dry blows. They both took off their indoor shoes and placed them in bags so they could bring them inside and stepped onto the polished wood floor. There was a small crowd watching the kendo students spar. Among them, she could easily pick out a certain black-haired teen.

"Frank, Kuroba," Kazuto said casually as the duo approached. Asuna, Meg and Shino were also with him too. "Glad you could join us. They just started Sugu's match."

"Oh." Kuroba had forgotten that Suguha was in kendo and was actually one of the club's best members. She turned towards the kendo group and saw Suguha, in her kendo gear, give her a small wave.

Today was the full-participation tournament for the Umesato High School kendo team. The main purpose for it was to decide who will be on the regular and reserve teams, but it also apparently served the dual purpose of beating the authority of the seniors into the freshmen. Kuroba still got a kick at hearing the time when Frank and Kazuto had joined the kendo team, and they wiped the floor with all the seniors. However, thanks to Araya, Frank wasn't on the kendo team long since he leaked Frank's enhanced abilities to the principal, which got Frank banned from the team. Kazuto ended up quitting in protest, since he knew Frank never used his powers during his matches.

Regardless, Umesato's kendo team was fairly strong, probably because it had a specialized dojo, and about ten new students had joined the team this year. Kuroba knew that Suguha was an expert at kendo thirty years ago, where she even made it to the nationals. Even without most of her memories, she was as skilled with a shinai as ever.

" _Doh_! Win!" the advising teacher called out, interrupting Kuroba's thoughts.

As expected, Suguha had defeated her opponent, who looked frustrated over his loss. Kuroba could see Sugu's Neurolinker peeking from under her helmet, but knew it wasn't a problem. While Neurolinkers were allowed during sporting matches, it was only for monitoring points, and for kendo and fencing, used to judge blows. Of course, using external applications or connections to the Global Net was forbidden, there was easily one super program that bypassed that, Brain Burst.

"Way to go, Sugu!" Meg cheered. "Keep it up!"

The next match was against another junior, named Takagi. Suguha did lose one point because she missed one blow, but she quickly recovered and managed to win in the end, securing her in the final round. However, Sugu was not the talk of the tournament. Instead it was a freshman, who had won all his matches with surprising strength and winning with just two blows.

"That new guy is pretty impressive," Shino commented. "He might even give Sugu a challenge."

Frank folded his arms as he stared at the "amazing freshman" in suspicion.

Kuroba noticed this and said, "Something wrong?"

"That guy, he seems a little _too_ perfect. You might not be able to tell, but it's like he starts a swing then quickly changes direction to overpower his opponent at astonishing speed. That isn't normal."

The Black King eyed the freshman, whose name was apparently Nomi, in a more analytical gaze as he fought another kendo member. He looked to be one the slender side, but he seemed to have no problem fighting against an older, more experienced opponent. In fact, Nomi wasn't even hit once. He lightly dodged blows of his senior opponent, blows so fast Kuroba had trouble making out, as if he predicted their arrival. Or else he met those blows with his own sword when they were still in their infancy.

"You're right," Kuroba muttered to her Blade. "Something's definitely off about that guy. _No one_ moves that fast, besides you."

"Final match! Red, Nomi! White, Kirigaya!"

At the voice of their coach, Nomi and Suguha stepped into the tournament space. The crowd had grown much larger, no doubt because of Nomi's "skills", and cheered loudly.

"You can do this, Sugu!" Kazuto cheered.

In terms of experience, Suguha had Nomi beaten by a long shot, and had a slight height advantage, however Nomi had won all his matches against experienced opponents, and without losing a single point.

Both players bowed their heads and crouched at the start line, shinai in position. The crowd grew silent as they waited with anticipation.

" _Hajime_!"

The sharp cry had barely escaped the teacher's lips when the sounds of two shouts and one blow tangled together in the kendo arena. The first to move was Sugu, or so it seemed. A single, merciless blow aimed straight at her opponent's mask from as far as she could manage. There was way Nomi should've been able to block that strike.

Before Sugu's shinai could meet its target, Nomi shouted, " _Teeeh_!" and his shinai hit Sugu's left kote gauntlet. The slapping sound of the strike shook the air. Sugu had started to chase Nomi and lock swords, but Nomi had already created plenty of distance between them and had his shinai held high.

" _Kote_ hit!"

The coach raised a red flag accompanied the shout, and the gallery, including the team members, finally began to chatter noisily.

The Nega Nebulus members, the ones who were watching the match, were shocked.

"How did he do that?" Asuna said, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"I don't know," Kazuto replied. "Sugu definitely moved first. There's no way Nomi could've blocked her attack so quickly."

Kuroba and Frank just watched the match silently. Somehow Nomi had hit Sugu on the gauntlet in the middle of her strike. Basically, Nomi had perfectly grasped the trajectory and timing of Suguha's strike and brought his own shinai up first, which made absolutely no sense.

The Black King had told Frank when they were walking that she had felt an odd presence in the freshman section during the welcoming ceremony and had checked the matching list to see if there were any new Burst Linkers in the school. However, she couldn't find any new names on the list. She then learned that he and Kazuto had did the same.

_"It's highly possible that Nomi is a Burst Linker,"_ Kuroba thought to herself as the match continued. _"There's no other way he could counter and dodge Sugu so quickly. But how is he keeping his name from appearing on the matching list?"_

Kuroba noticed a faint smile appear on Nomi's face before quickly opening and closing his mouth. While she couldn't hear what he said, she suspected what it was.

"Burst Link."

The world froze blue with a screech as Kuroba entered the Accelerated World. She watched Sugu's shinai inch towards Nomi's torso. Nomi couldn't avoid or defend against this blow with the way it was positioned, even if he accelerated.

In her customized avatar, Kuroba slipped into the tournament space and peeked into the cage of Nomi's mask, semitransparent and blue. Unfortunately, what was beyond the mask was apparently outside the range of the social cameras, so she couldn't see Nomi's bare face, only his mouth.

Kuroba accessed the Brain Burst console with her left hand. She didn't know how this freshman had managed to slip through the checks both she, Frank and Kazuto had done after the entrance ceremony. But Nomi had to connected to Umesato local net now, especially since he was in the middle of a tournament. That means his avatar name should be on the matching list. However, when Kuroba checked the matching list, all she saw was her name and the names of her Legion members.

_"This doesn't make any sense,"_ Kuroba thought. _"Why isn't his name showing up?"_

Nomi had to be using the acceleration ability during the kendo team tournament. It's possible that he also intends to use it in the proficiency tests for freshmen that were taking place next week. The very act infuriated the Black King. She had made it abundantly clear among her Legion members that she did not approve of them using acceleration in tests or tournaments.

Since she didn't see Nomi's avatar, Kuroba could only assume that he was using a different acceleration command, one that she hadn't told Frank about. There was nothing more she could really do so she returned to her frozen body and said, "Burst out."

The sound of the real world returned as time returned to its normal speed. Kuroba then found herself stunned as Nomi's body slid to the right. Only the tiptoes of his left foot were in contact with the tournament floor. And yet, with this single point as an axis, Nomi managed to rotate his body left, like a figure skater, and slid to the right, evading Suguha's shinai. Nomi then casually struck his shinai against Suguha's mask cage while stomping his right foot hard on the floor. The Nega Nebulus members were all rendered speechless as Nomi was declared the winner.

* * *

All of the Black Legion members were gathered in the park, minus Andrew since he was busy running his café. Marth (ALO form) and Kuroba were sparring with each other to test the latter's progress while Kazuto supervised. Everyone else were either chatting or watching the fight. Marth was wielding Solaris in his right hand while he had Light Repulser in his left. As for Kuroba, she was fighting with Lunara.

The Black King was actually glad that Marth had chosen to up her training by fighting him, as it provided her a distraction from issues in both the real world and the Accelerated World. Marth had willed his swords to be dull so they wouldn't have to worry about any serious injuries, but they would still hurt if the blades actually hit with enough force. Lunara was very close to being at its normal weight in Kuroba's hands, granted she was wielding it in just her right one, since the hilt was barely long enough for her to even use both hands.

Granted she found that fighting Marth, even in his ALO form, which was far from his strongest form, to be very challenging since she couldn't accelerate, because it would negate the point of her training, and she didn't have access to the enhanced abilities of her Duel Avatar, Black Lotus. Another reason why Marth was so difficult to fight was that he had enhanced strength and speed, along with an excellent reaction time, even in the real world. Although Marth said he was holding back, Kuroba had a hard time believing him because she was struggling to land a hit on him or block his attacks, which was even harder since he had two weapons.

"Do you want to keep going, Kuroba?" Marth questioned, not lowering his swords by even an inch. His stamina was naturally very high, so he wasn't feeling very fatigued while Kuroba managed to build up her stamina through the constant training.

"Of course I do!" Kuroba declared in defiance as she tightened her grip on the black sword. "I won't quit until I knock your ass in the dirt."

Marth couldn't help but chuckle in response. "Okay. Then I might need to step my game up a little."

Kuroba immediately cursed herself for her statement. _"Crap. I'm barely holding on as is. If Marth puts in more effort into this, I'm finished."_

She watched as Marth got into a stance to activate Sonic Leap with Solaris, causing the sword to glow green. Kuroba only had a split-second window to come up with a counter for the attack.

_"I could try to block it with a sword skill, but that would leave me vulnerable to a potential chain attack,"_ she thought quickly, her nerves causing her heart to beat wildly in her chest. _"Wait, maybe that's it. It'll be risky, but I'm used to taking big risks already."_

Kuroba steadied her breathing and activated Sonic Leap herself. The two opponents ran at each other before clashing their attacks together. Sparks shot in the air as the twin blades met. Just as Kuroba expected, Marth's attack was stronger and was slowly overpowering her own, his sword pushing back her own, but that's just what she wanted. Everyone watched as Lunara's light began flickering weakly under the impact of its twin.

Somehow Kuroba managed to move Lunara into a certain position to unleash the two-hit skill, Vertical Arc, much to everyone's surprise, including Marth. Lunara flared to life as it began glowing blue and began pushing back against the golden blade. Kuroba managed to knock Solaris away before performing the second attack, nicking Marth across the chest. Unfortunately, that surprise attack left Kuroba in a stance that she couldn't even attempt to repeat, leaving her helpless as her post-motion delay kicked in. She could only watch as Marth activated Vorpal Strike with Light Repulser, the blade glowing bloodred, and lunged forward. Kuroba braced for the attack to hit, only it never came. Instead, Marth stopped it just before it would've hit where her heart was.

Marth had the biggest grin on his face. "Well done, Kuroba," he said sincerely. "Not only did you manage to land a blow on me, you did so using Skill Connect, which I didn't even teach you yet. Great job."

Kuroba let out the breath she was holding, finding herself mentally exhausted. "Yeah, but you were right that it isn't easy to pull off," she answered as the two relaxed, lowering their weapons. "It took most of my willpower just to move Lunara into position. It was sheer luck that I actually managed to graze you like that."

The Spriggan chuckled. "Don't sell yourself too short. I think you might be ready now, ready for the next level."

The Black King gasped as her eyes lit up in excitement. "Seriously? You think I'm ready to dual wield?"

"Yeah," Marth said, nodding his head in confirmation. "It'll have to wait until we get back from Okinawa, but I believe you now have what it takes to dual wield."

"All right!" Kuroba exclaimed with joy before wrapping her arms around her protégé, accidently dropping Lunara on the ground next to her. "I promise I won't let you down!"

It was obvious that Marth was surprised by the sudden contact, but he dismissed the swords he was holding and returned the embrace. "I know you won't. After all, you are the Black King and my Driver."

After a few moments, the duo separated and went over to their friends, with Marth retrieving Lunara and dismissing it.

"Congrats, Kuroba," Klein said with a grin. "You definitely deserve it."

"I was speechless at the end of the fight," Ayano admitted. "You were totally awesome back there."

"Thanks," Kuroba replied. "Listen up. While me, Marth, Kazuto and Asuna are away, it'll be up to the rest of you to maintain our territory in the Saitama District. I expect it to still be under our control by the time we return, so don't even think about losing. Protect it with your very lives if you have to."

"Will do," Shino said casually. "Have fun on your trip."

Kuroba then remembered about the freshman who beat Suguha, Seiji Nomi. For some reason, she kept getting a bad vibe from that guy.

"One more thing," she added. "Watch yourselves around that Nomi guy. Something about him doesn't seem right."

Suguha shivered nervously. "I still don't get how he beat me. I couldn't even land a single hit on him."

"It's possible that Seiji's a Burst Linker," Kazuto spoke up. "He probably used Brain Burst to beat you."

Suguha eyed her brother in confusion. "But you guys said there weren't any new Burst Linkers at our school."

"It's possible he's using an illegal program to hide his name from the matching list," the Graphite Edge player guessed. "Me and Asuna used one for a while to keep a low profile but we stopped using it after we reformed Nega Nebulus with Marth and Kuroba."

Kuroba folded her arms as she processed her thoughts. "That was very impressive that you were able to make a program like that, Kazuto. That probably would've been useful during the Cyan Demon incident."

"Probably," Kazuto agreed. "So what should we do?"

"We'll confront Seiji after the Okinawa trip," Kuroba explained. "It may be risky because most of our legion's strongest fighters will be away, but if we leave him be, he might not try anything. Shino, I'll be leaving you in charge while we're away. Make sure you and the others stay out of trouble."

"Roger that," Shino acknowledged.

Suddenly both Marth and Kazuto tensed up and began examining the immediate area.

"Is something wrong?" Meg questioned nervously.

"I don't know," Marth answered. "I just had the strangest feeling that someone was watching us for a moment."

"Me too," Kazuto added.

"Could it be Seiji?" Asuna asked.

"Hard to say," Marth said. "It might be a good idea to keep our guards up for a while. Just in case."

No one disagreed.

* * *

**April 12th, 2057**

Kuroba was at the airport with the other seniors. They all had suitcases with them for the stay ahead. The Black Lotus player scoured the group, looking for Frank, instead she bumped into Megumi.

"Oh, sorry, Megumi," Kuroba said quickly.

Megumi simply waved her hand in dismissal. "It's okay. Are you excited?"

"Yes! I've been looking forward to this trip for months."

"Me too. We'll have so much fun together!"

Kuroba suddenly felt a pang of guilt in her chest. "Um, sure," she said carefully. "But I was kind of hoping to spend some time with Frank too."

For the briefest of moments, Megumi looked taken aback but quickly hid it.

"Seriously, Hime?" Megumi questioned. "I mean, sure Frank seems like a nice guy, but there's just something off about him. Something that's not… human."

Now Kuroba was the one in shock. "Megumi, how could you say something like that?" she said, trying to control her volume.

Megumi raised her hands in defense. "I'm just saying that something's just not right with him," she argued. "I know you've got a crush on him and I did support you, but now I'm thinking he might not be too safe. Did you know that he ran into the museum when it was attacked by monsters eight years ago? Why would he do something like that?"

"I'm sure he was looking for me," Kuroba passed off.

"But he didn't even _know_ you back then. Plus, when the staff found you, Frank wasn't with you. Instead he was found hiding in a restroom, crying his eyes out."

Something told Kuroba that Frank was just faking those tears since she knew he could defend himself against monsters. However, it didn't save him from getting detention for a whole week.

Megumi let out a sigh. "Listen, I just want to you to be careful," she said slowly. "Nothing about Frank and his friends seems right. I just don't want you to get hurt."

Kuroba struggled to come up with a reply as she felt doubt and pain overcome her. Deep down, she knew Megumi meant well, but it didn't make her words any less painful to hear. Kuroba did notice all the strange looks her fellow students gave her whenever she was with Frank, like she was wasting her time with person like him, but she did her best to make sure it didn't bother her. But hearing that Megumi was having second thoughts hit a little too close to home.

"I…" Kuroba said slowly. Suddenly she felt someone grab her hand.

"There you are, Kuroba," Asuna said with a smile. "I've been looking all over for you. Do you want to sit with me on the plane?"

"Uh, yeah, thanks," Kuroba quickly replied. "I'll see you later, Megumi."

"Okay," Megumi said, her eyes filled with suspicion. "Don't forget that we're sharing a hotel room."

"I won't." Kuroba allowed Asuna to lead her away. Once they were far enough, she added, "Thanks for the save back there."

"You're welcome," Asuna said in understanding. "I knew that Marth was getting strange looks from hanging out with you, but I didn't think it was the other way around too."

"I'm just good at hiding it. I knew that some people wouldn't agree with my, whatever it is I have with Frank. But I didn't think Megumi would have a problem with it."

Asuna gave her Legion Master's hand a gentle squeeze. "Don't let it bother you. We've got a vacation to look forward to."

Kuroba cracked a smile, which looked a little forced. "Yeah, we do."

The two girls then boarded the plane with the other seniors, unaware that their field trip will not be as pleasant as they think.

**To be continued**

* * *

**Wow, this was a long one, even by this story's standards. So Seiji has made his debut, but he won't be appearing for a while as Marth, Kuroba, Kirito and Asuna are going to Okinawa and I'll be focusing on them for a while. Anyway, I'll see you guys next time!**


	15. Kuroba's Unexpected Battle

**April 13th, 2057**

Kuroba was lying in a deck chair that was under a parasol. She was wearing a black bikini and sandals, grateful that Frank had taught her a special trick that made her crystal invisible. However, it did reveal a small scar by her waist, which constantly reminded her of when she put her life at risk to save someone she cared about. There was also a slip-on white sundress and sunhat sitting on the table next to her.

Speaking of which, Kuroba wanted to come to the beach with a certain someone today, so she had spent the first few days before the trip looking for a swimsuit, only to find out that Frank had already left with Kazuto to explore the city. Thankfully Asuna was still around and decided to join her.

Asuna was in the deck chair next to her, wearing a white bikini and sandals. She also had a blue t-shirt and shorts beside her.

"It sure is nice here," Asuna said as the two girls tried to relax.

"Yeah," Kuroba replied, still a little disappointed that Frank wasn't here. "I just wish that Frank didn't disappear so quickly. I hoping to spend some time with him without training or you-know-what."

"Don't take it too hard. Marth's never really been a fan of the beach. Besides, he'd want you to enjoy yourself. You definitely deserve a break."

Kuroba slowly nodded. "That's true. I mean, what's the worst that could happen to Frank and Kazuto?"

* * *

Frank and Kazuto were walking around the streets, admiring the sights.

"This place sure is different from Tokyo," Kazuto commented.

The Black Wolf player nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I wouldn't mind living here if it wasn't so hot here."

"Same," Kazuto agreed. "So what should we do today?"

"How about we look around and see if anything looks interesting?"

"Okay."

* * *

Kuroba had a hard time getting herself to relax. She just kept fidgeting in her chair, trying to make herself comfortable. Asuna, on the other hand, had managed to fall asleep.

_"Oh, come on,"_ she thought to herself. _"I don't need Frank to make me relax. I can do this. On the count of three. One, two…"_

She never made it to three because two hands had reached out from behind and pressed down on her bathing suit, or more specifically, her chest.

"Hnggaaah?!" Kuroba leapt out of her chair, spun around in the air and saw none other than Megumi in a one-piece swimsuit. Her outburst also woke up Asuna.

"M-M-Megumi! Why did you do that?!" the Black King exclaimed with a fierce blush on her face.

"Sorry, but I kept calling you and you didn't even notice me," Megumi replied. "Hey, Asuna. You here to enjoy the sun too?"

"Trying to," Asuna said, trying not to sound annoyed. "So what brings you here?"

"Well there's a sea kayak tour that's about to start and I was hoping Kuroba would go with me. You could come to if you want."

Asuna thought for a few seconds before saying, "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll stay here for a bit longer. But you two can go if you want."

"Um," Kuroba said nervously. "How about we wander around town for a bit? We can do the kayak tour another day."

Megumi simply shrugged. "Okay. Besides, my family has a rule to never get on a boat that doesn't have a lifeboat."

Kuroba grinned wryly. "Were your ancestors on a luxury ship that was in a shipwreck or something?"

The three girls shared a laugh before Kuroba put on her sundress and hat, while Megumi put on a light hoodie. They then said goodbye to Asuna and headed back to town. Megumi noticed the black-haired girl kept looking around, but she didn't seem that interested in all the stores.

"Are you looking for Frank?" Megumi questioned, causing Kuroba to yelp.

"N-no," she hastily denied. "Why would I do that?"

Megumi just sighed, clearly not believing her. "I knew it. You know, you changed quite a bit since you met that guy," she said. "You do look a bit happier, but I also notice you looking sad a few times. Frank didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Of course, he didn't!" Kuroba protested. "Frank would never hurt me! Our relationship is just… complicated."

Now the brunette was genuinely curious. "Really, how so?"

The Black King silently cursed herself. "Well, I've been trying to help Frank get his memories back and we have made some progress. Unfortunately, his past is sort of the issue."

"Let me guess, old girlfriend?"

"Sort of." Kuroba didn't know how to describe the situation with Yuuki's death. "Let's just say Frank's having a hard time moving on from it."

"I see," Megumi answered. "Just promise me you'll be careful."

"Of course, I will. And I'm sorry about the kayak thing. You really wanted to go in it, didn't you?"

"It's fine. Like you said, we can go another day."

The duo stopped walking and looked around, but there were so many people tracking down just one person would be impossible. _"Unless,"_ Kuroba thought before closing her eyes and focused on her resonance with Frank.

After a few minutes, she found herself overlooking the ocean from a high cliff. The water was a brilliant blue, which reminded her of Frank's eyes. There was a light breeze from the north and there were some good-sized waves rolling by. Kuroba tried looking down and saw black paws that had white markings, indicating that Frank was in his wolf form.

_"Idiot. Are you_ trying _to draw attention to yourself?"_

Sadly for Kuroba, resonance didn't include telepathy with her partner, so Frank just sat down, watching the waves roll by. Kuroba then noticed a white wolf sitting beside Frank, which had to be Kazuto. For some reason, the two wolves decided to wrestle with each other, but Kuroba got what she needed to locate them, so she ceased her concentration and reopened her eyes.

"I think I might know where Frank is," Kuroba said.

"I don't know how you manage to do it, but you always seem to know where that guy is," Megumi replied. "Should I be impressed or creeped out?"

Kuroba simply smiled. "Whichever floats your boat. But if I know Frank, he won't be going anywhere anytime soon, so how about this. Why don't we split up and buy each other a souvenir and exchange them when we get back to school? Think of it as a way for me to make up for not spending a lot of time with you."

"Sounds like fun. How about we meet back up at the hotel in about an hour and then we can go track down your special someone?"

Kuroba immediately felt her face getting hot. "O-okay. I'll see you in an hour then."

The two girls then split up to buy each other gifts.

_"This will be nice,"_ Kuroba thought to herself. _"Maybe I can buy something for Frank while I'm at it."_

Excluding relationships she had formed in the Accelerated World, Megumi was probably one of her closest friends. However, that seemed to change when she became Frank's Driver and met the other ex-Alfheim Warriors as she found herself getting more attached to Frank's friends. Kuroba noticed that she hadn't spent nearly as much time as she used to with her old friend since she spent so much time training with her protégé, even though Megumi could sometimes be overly physically affectionate.

Thinking back on it, Kuroba still hadn't told Megumi her real name and they never been to each other's houses. Actually, she hadn't told anyone about her living accommodations, not even Frank, and she hoped she never will. However, Kuroba had never once gone to Megumi's house either, which was a little weird.

Suddenly she heard the sound of dry thunder assault her mind, the sound of Brain Burst accelerating her consciousness by a thousand times. It could only mean one thing, someone was challenging her, Black Lotus, to a duel. If this happened in Tokyo, Kuroba's mind would've been ready in an instant thanks to her battle instincts, but because this was Okinawa, she was taken off-guard a little.

_"It couldn't be Frank, Kazuto or Asuna challenging me is it?"_ Black Lotus questioned. _"What's going on?"_

The Black King found herself surrounded by crumbling brown walls of a city. They were covered with moss and vines and there was also white sand mixed with gravel for the ground. Black Lotus checked her opponent's level, which was in the upper right of her field of view, which was 5. That could easily be either of her Legion members here in Okinawa since they all leveled up last month.

"Is this the Ancient Castle stage?" she questioned. "It looks a bit different. Is it because we're in Okinawa?"

"This isn't the Old Castle!" a female voice answered. "It's the Okinawan Fortress stage!"

Black Lotus turned around and looked up. She spotted two human-shaped avatars standing on one of the walls with their backs to the sky. The one in front wore armor reminiscent of the sea, a blue tinged with green. The one behind her was a vivid coral color. Both of them were female as well.

Lotus let out a sigh of relief, knowing that it wasn't one of her friends challenging her since she knew she would probably have to go all out against them if they had, since all of them were strong for their levels. The avatar that was challenging her was the blue one, her name being Lagoon Dolphin. It seemed to be a one-on-one duel, which meant that the coral avatar was spectating through the Gallery.

Lagoon Dolphin leapt down in front of her opponent, easily absorbing the impact.

"Ah! W-wait, Ruka!" the coral one cried out somewhat pathetically. She quickly followed her friend, however she ended up landing hard on her butt, but since she was a spectator, she didn't take any damage from the fall.

Lagoon Dolphin then got in a fighting stance. "You must be one of those students at that hotel on a school trip."

"And you two must be Burst Linkers that live in this area," Black Lotus replied as she raised her arm-blades. "However, you must have known there were a few other Burst Linkers besides me here. Out of all the ones you could've challenged, you chose me. Bad choice."

"Oh please, I just fought this Wolf guy and he was kinda boring," Lagoon Dolphin replied.

"What? You fought Black Wolf?" Black Lotus said in surprise.

"She did, and she lost pretty bad too," the coral avatar said. "He used just his swords for most of the fight before unleashing his special move. What was it called again? Starblast something?"

"Starburst Stream."

"Yeah, that's what it was."

_"That's a little weird. Frank's never held back like that against another Burst Linker,"_ the Black King thought curiously. _"Maybe he didn't really feel like fighting, which is a first. Oh well. I guess I'll have to fight for both of us."_

"Interesting," Black Lotus said. She brought her left arm-blade up in front and her right one down at her hip as she leaned forward.

The coral avatar seemed to notice something and held her hands to her mouth. "B-be careful, Ruka! She's level 9!"

"Heh. That's no big deal! She's just two levels above our master! Plus it'll more interesting than that last guy."

Lagoon Dolphin charged at Black Lotus, aiming to punch at the latter's chest. The sea avatar was nowhere near as fast Black Wolf, Kuroba's partner, meaning it was easy for Black Lotus to block the punch by using her left arm-blade. Because her avatar specialized in severing, she could easily cut Dolphin's arm in two. Hell, the only things that ever managed to repel Lotus's blades without weapons were Chrome Disaster and the invincible Green Grande. However, her blades did have one crucial weakness, while edges may be razor sharp, the flat sides of her blades were very brittle, or at least, they used to be. When Kuroba resonated with Frank, her blades seemed to become sturdier, as if they adopted the properties of Lunara and Solaris. Sadly, her blades were not unbreakable like them, as she later tested them out against said swords and unfortunately for Lotus, the twin blades managed to break through, but the increase in their durability was still very helpful.

Black Lotus caught the tough thrust with the flat side of her left arm-blade, creating a few meager sparks from the contact before the attack was repelled, easily sending Lagoon Dolphin flying by five meters before landing on her back.

_"Now I know why Frank held back. Despite them both being the same level, there's a clear difference in their fighting experience. If anything, Frank was just amusing her by not going all out until the very end."_

One thing the Black King had noticed about her protégé was the unusual way he fights. Despite having more fighting experience than Frank, Kuroba didn't know what the outcome would be if they fought in a serious match. If they did fight, it would be a battle of wills. Even though Kuroba's total playtime of seven years in the virtual world outshone Frank's (roughly) four years, she believed that the hardships they went through during those years made them equal in strength.

Even before she reached level 9, Kuroba never truly needed to fight with everything she has, because even if she lost, as long as she had Burst Points left, she could always try again. Frank, however, did not have that luxury. In the first two years of his VR experience, Frank was of the ten thousand people who were trapped in Sword Art Online, the very first VRMMO. Frank had no choice but to take every fight as seriously as possible because one misstep would cost him his life, in both the real and virtual worlds. Deep down, Kuroba hoped that he would have to fight that seriously again when she learned the truth about him, but those hopes were dashed when she watched him fight Chrome Disaster. The Dark Swordsman had fought like berserker, always staying on the offensive until he destroyed the Armor of Catastrophe with Starburst Stream.

"Ow!" the small avatar cried out before quickly getting back up, her HP down by 10 percent. "Not again!"

"I take it Wolf blocked you the same way," Black Lotus guessed, snapping out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, but don't think I'm giving up! This fight is far from over!"

Lagoon Dolphin charged at the Black King yet again, unleashing a series of rapid punches, all of which were blocked by the flat sides of Black Lotus's arm-blades. Dolphin's entire body then sank down and spun around like a drill on the axis of her body to deliver a super-low roundhouse kick with her right foot.

There wasn't any time to evade the attack, which would hit Lotus's left foot. The blow wouldn't be strong enough to break it, but it could definitely throw her off balance.

_"I could twist my leg ninety degrees so her shin will hit the edge,"_ Black Lotus thought. _"That would sever her foot like a hot knife through butter. However…"_

Instead of twisting her left leg, Lotus instead plunged it into the ground. She felt a hard resistance as she did so, but it wasn't enough to stop her from burying the leg-blade up to her knee. Dolphin's kick then connected to Black Lotus's left calf, creating an intense impact, and the fine sand of the Okinawan Fortress stage shot out over a radius of three meters.

Lagoon Dolphin's kick held impressive force, but she couldn't move Lotus's leg by one centimeter. That was because by burying her left leg into the earth, Black Lotus was able to disperse all of the kick's force into the very ground.

"No way," Lagoon Dolphin said in disbelief. Her water-blue eye lenses were wide with amazement as she pulled her leg back and steadily retreated. "She made a hole in the ground!"

The coral avatar was shocked as well, though her hands were up to her mouth. It was pretty simple why they were so shocked. While it is possible to destroy most terrain objects like buildings and decorations, especially in the Normal Duel Field where doing so could charge up an avatar's special-attack gauge, the ground was the only exception. There were some exceptions however: like melting ice with a fire attack in the Ice stage or evaporating the poisonous bogs of the Corroded Forest stage. The only reason as to why Lotus was able to pierce the ground was all thanks to the absolute severing that her avatar embodied.

"Now, then," Black Lotus said as she soundlessly pulled her leg out of the earth and stood up properly. "I'll attack next, but I wonder if you still intend to continue? Or are you ready to make it a draw here?"

It was the coral avatar that replied, "Th-that's enough, Ruka! If you keep going, you'll lose again! Let's just ask her!"

The dolphin avatar simply shook her head and fiercely stomped her foot on the ground.

"No way! An Okinawan warrior will never lose to a samurai!"

Black Lotus cocked her head slightly. "But didn't you lose to Black Wolf earlier?"

Dolphin faltered for a moment but quickly recollected herself. "He doesn't count! He wasn't taking me seriously!"

"Well he did end up overpowering you in the end, Ruka," the coral avatar replied. "Maybe he has his reasons for not going all out."

"Grr, you don't have to rub it in!" Dolphin complained. "I'll just take out my frustration on her!"

_"Then I guess I better step up_ my _game,"_ Black Lotus thought smugly.

There was still plenty of time left and both opponents' health gauges were mostly full, but it was clear the duel was reaching its climax.

Lagoon Dolphin yanked both arms back into her body, her tightly clenched fists emitting a vivid marine-blue light. She dropped her hips low before charging at the Black King yet again.

"Tidal Wave!" As she called out the name of the special attack, she launched her fists in alternating succession.

The speed and strength of the series of blows were quite impressive, with the punches covered in a sea-colored light effect. They came at a rate of more than five per second, flooding in from a distance that was double of her normal attacks. It was a good technique that had a stubborn fighting spirit that would smash any enemy with two fists, but it would only work if the move actually hits its target.

Black Lotus had already started moving before the first blow had even reached her. As she moved out of the way, Lotus positioned her right arm-blade to activate Vertical Square, causing the blade to glow a bright blue. Black Lotus then put all of her strength into the preset motions of the four-part one-handed sword skill and managed to land all its hits on her opponent, who couldn't stop her special move to dodge it. Lagoon Dolphin ended up getting knocked back five feet and lost most of her health and landed flat on her back. She tried to get back up, but only managed to get onto her knees while panting.

"Damn it!" Dolphin cursed while slamming her fists on the ground. "You win."

Black Lotus unconsciously smiled. "You fought well. That kick of your second attack was pretty good. It would be a lot better if you could connect it a little more smoothly to the feint."

"Yeah. That Wolf guy said the same thing." She then stood back up. "It was kind of weird though. When I fought him, there was a point where his right foot was glowing, and he ended up kicking me right in the face. Does he know martial arts by chance?"

Lotus's smile was then replaced by a frown. "I don't recall him ever mentioning that he knows martial arts. I'll have to ask him about it later."

The coral avatar then hurried over to her friend and said, "Wait, Ruka! We still haven't actually talked about what we came for!"

Lagoon Dolphin lightly hit herself in the face. "Whoops! I totally forgot!" She quickly faced the Black King. "Um, Miss Lotus, after seeing your power, we've got a request! Please listen to what we got to say!"

Black Lotus was silent for a moment before retracting her arm-blades in hands and folded them. "Very well. Since you fought so hard, I'll hear you out."

"Thank you so much!" Lagoon Dolphin shouted. "There's a coffee shop close by called Sabani. It's at the end of the main street. So why don't we log out and meet at one of the tables there?"

"Huh?"

Before Black Lotus could question them, Lagoon Dolphin punched herself in the chest, taking out the remainder of her health. Kuroba then found herself back in the real world again.

_"What am I getting myself into?"_ Kuroba thought to herself. _"This could be a trap. Maybe I should contact Frank and ask him and Kazuto to come with me. That way if this is a trap, I won't be facing it alone."_

Kuroba immediately typed up a message asking her protégé to meet her at Sabani and to bring Kazuto with him. It didn't take long for her to get a reply.

"Just talked to Kazuto about it," Frank had typed. "We're down with that. We're about fifteen minutes out right now. Don't take this the wrong way, but is there any reason for this?"

It was only natural that he'd ask about it. Since Kuroba didn't know if the two Burst Linkers were putting on a clever performance to get her real-life information, or worse, are monsters hoping to use her to get to Frank, she decided to come clean.

"I got challenged to a duel against a young Burst Linker and she and her friend want me to meet them at that café," she sent. "I don't know if it's a trap or not so I would appreciate some back-up."

"In that case, make that five minutes," Frank replied. "Just wait for us outside."

"Okay. Thank you."

Kuroba made her way down the street, looking for the designated café. She quickly found it but chose not to approach it. Instead she went over to a near a nearby jewelry booth to wait for her friends. After a few minutes, she sensed a familiar presence in a nearby alleyway and ducked into it, where she found a black wolf and a white wolf hiding by a dumpster. They both looked out of breath.

"What took you guys so long?" Kuroba said smugly.

The white wolf simply glared at her. "You try sprinting across town while trying to avoid being seen!" The wolf was then consumed by a white aura before it changed into Kazuto.

The black wolf then let out a dark aura before it changed into Frank, who was brushing off his shirt.

"So do you know what these Burst Linkers want, Kuroba?" Frank questioned.

"No, all I know is that they want to talk to me about something. I would prefer if we also had Asuna with us, but we don't really have the time to wait for her. By the way…" Kuroba then grabbed her protégé by the ear and pulled on it hard. "Why didn't you tell me there were Burst Linkers here?!"

"Owowow! Sorry, I thought you already knew there were Burst Linkers here so when I got challenged by one, I didn't do much about it."

"Well, next time, tell me! Even though we're on vacation, we still have stay on-guard because we don't know when monsters will attack again! Did you forget that they're looking for you to get revenge for Zarc?!"

"Okay, okay!" Frank said quickly. "I'll be more careful. I'm sorry!"

"You better be!" Kuroba said in frustration as she let go of his ear. She then glared daggers at Kazuto. "Anything you would like to add?"

Kazuto instinctively flinched under her fierce gaze. "Uh, no ma'am," he said nervously.

Kuroba merely scoffed before walking out of the alley.

"Kuroba's just as scary as Asuna," Kazuto mumbled. "Especially when she's mad."

"Tell me about it," Frank agreed nervously.

The boys hurried after their Legion Master to not irritate her even more. The trio then arrived at the café, where they saw two girls sitting at one of the tables on the open patio that was on the second floor.

"They're here," Kuroba said quietly. "Both of you, stay on-guard. If this is a trap, then they're not Burst Linkers but the bait. The real Burst Linkers could be hiding somewhere nearby."

"I'm not so sure," Frank replied. His eyes took on a shade of green as he activated his searching skill to scan the area. "Most of the people here are adults or tourists and I can't sense any malicious intent from anyone." His eyes then went back to blue.

"Me neither," Kazuto added. "From what you two described these two Burst Linkers, they sound more naïve than deceitful. But still, appearances can be deceiving."

"I see." Kuroba accelerated once more and checked the matching list, where she only saw six names on it: hers, Black Wolf, Graphite Edge, Argent Flash, Lagoon Dolphin, and Coral Merrow (who was level 4). The coral avatar that she saw spectating her duel was most likely the owner of the last name. Kuroba then closed the list and logged off.

"I guess we'll have to trust them," she said slowly.

The trio went into the café before climbing up the stairs to reach the patio. They then made their way to the farthest table, prompting the two girls there to turn to face them. They were about five years younger than Kuroba and had a deep tan.

Since the girls stayed frozen, the older teens took seats on the other side of the table. A waitress then came along and handed the trio some menus. Kuroba ordered fresh pineapple juice while Frank and Kazuto ordered fruit smoothies. After a few minutes of waiting, the waitress returned with their drinks before the trio paid for them through their Neurolinkers.

After taking a few sips from her drink, Kuroba said, "I believe it was you two who invited me here, so let's hear it."

The two girls blinked their eyes rapidly before nodding their heads. "Oh! I'm sorry, Miss Lotus," the slightly taller girl with reddish-brown hair said. "You're just so beautiful."

That practically confirmed that they were the Burst Linkers she had met earlier.

"Why thank you," Kuroba replied. "But don't call me that here. 'Kuroba' is just fine."

"By the way," the girl with the ponytail spoke up before pointing at Frank and Kazuto. "Who are these two? Are they your bodyguards?"

"Hardly," Kazuto said while folding his arms. "We're her friends. She asked us to come. My name's Kazuto, but you can also call me 'Kirito'. And that's Frank."

Frank simply bowed his head. "Nice to meet you two."

"My name is Ruka Asato," the first girl introduced formally. "My Duel Avatar is Lagoon Dolphin."

"And my name is Mana Itosu," the other girl added in the same tone. "My Duel Avatar is called Coral Merrow."

Kuroba nearly spat out her drink in shock. "Why did you two just tell us your Duel Avatars? Guess this wasn't a trap after all."

Frank placed his elbow on the table before resting his head on his hand. "Does that mean Kazuto and I rushed all the way over here for nothing?"

"Looks that way," Kazuto replied. "So, do you guys have a master or something? Someone who shows you the ropes?"

"We do," Mana replied. "He's a mainlander like you three. He taught us to never use acceleration for anything bad and to never talking about accelerating to just anyone."

"Is that it?" Kuroba questioned.

"Yep! That's everything!" the younger girls said in sync.

Kuroba simply slouched in her chair. "You've got to be kidding me," she muttered.

Frank, on the other hand, cracked an amused smirk. "Lighten up, Kuroba. There aren't a lot of Burst Linkers here in Okinawa. I think it's okay for them to be open with us."

Ruka eyed the Black Wolf player curiously. "Hey, you look familiar. Have we met before?"

"Yeah. You challenged me to a duel earlier today. I'm Black Wolf."

Mana's eyes immediately lit up with excitement. "Whoa! Do you remember me? I was watching you and Ruka's fight."

"Yeah, I remember. Nice to see you two again."

"You were totally awesome when you fought Ruka. You moved so fast I could hardly see what was happening and that special attack of yours was so cool."

Frank simply smiled. "Thanks. Ruka wasn't that bad either. Kazuto's avatar is Graphite Edge and he's just as strong as me. Anyway, we're getting off topic. Why did you guys want to meet Kuroba?"

Ruka's eyes widened as she remembered why they were here. "Oh yeah. Miss Lo… I'm sorry, Kuroba, we'd like you to meet our master."

The older Burst Linkers were then filled in on the situation. First, there were three Burst Linkers in Okinawa, or more specifically, the Nago/Henoko area: the master, who had moved here from Tokyo; his protégé, Lagoon Dolphin, aka Ruka Asato; and then her protégé, Coral Merrow aka Mana Itosu. Mana also hasn't used her copy/install right yet.

"Master wants to create an acceleration community here in Okinawa, one that's bigger than the one in Tokyo," Ruka explained. "But then an incident just this year has crushed that dream. Our master spent the last few months trying to deal with it but now he's given up and just ignoring it."

"When we heard a school from Tokyo was coming here to visit, Ruka and I decided to see if there were any Burst Linkers among the students and see if any of them were strong enough to help us," Mana took over. "But we really lucked out, because we've got three Burst Linkers who can help us out."

"That depends on when you want us to meet your master," Frank replied. "Anyway, what's this trouble that your master is dealing with?"

"The thing is, we don't really know ourselves," Mana answered slowly. "All we know is that a monster is prowling through the Accelerated World."

Frank and Kazuto immediately recoiled in their seats, which confused the younger girls. They quickly locked eyes and nodded.

"Excuse us for a moment," Kazuto said before he and his best friend got out of their seats and went to the restroom.

"Is something wrong?" Ruka questioned.

Kuroba had a feeling what it was but said, "It's nothing. Don't worry about it. So if we want the full story, we'll need to ask your master for details."

"Yup," Ruka confirmed. "So will you guys help us?"

It was at that moment that Frank and Kazuto returned to the table.

"It might be a little late today, so we can take you guys to him tomorrow," Mana added.

"Tomorrow, huh? I'm really sorry but I won't be able to help you," Frank said. "I've got plans with a friend of mine tomorrow, but Kazuto could help out."

Kuroba tried her hardest not to look surprised. It was obvious that the friend Frank was referring to was Asuna, which made Kuroba a little jealous. This seemed a little out of Frank's character to ignore a problem like this.

"You'll help out too, right Kuroba?" Kazuto spoke up.

The Black Lotus player sighed. "I guess I'll help too."

_"But I kind of wish Frank would come too,"_ she added silently.

The younger Burst Linkers smiled with joy. "Thank you both so much!" Ruka exclaimed. "We'll see you guys tomorrow."

The Okinawa Burst Linkers then hurried off, leaving the Tokyo Burst Linkers alone.

"Alright, spill," Kuroba spoke up. "What are you guys up to?"

"You heard what they said, some monster is hiding in the Accelerated World," Kazuto explained. "There's a good chance it's one of Zarc's minions using Brain Burst. When Cyan Demon attacked, we weren't aware of who we were, so we only confronted him in the Accelerated World. However, now that Frank and I know who we are, we might have the advantage."

"What advantage?" Kuroba questioned.

"From what Meg and the others told us, when monsters use Brain Burst, their minds don't control their real bodies just like us when we're in the Accelerated World," Frank took over. "Since I can use my powers in the real world, I could probably track him down and confront him in the real world while you guys fight him in the virtual one."

Kuroba rested her hand on her chin as she thought. "I see. That could work. However, Brain Burst moves a thousand times faster than the real world. By the time you might find the guy, we probably will have already taken him out in Accelerated World."

"Good point. But he might have an accomplice too. We don't know many monsters are out there, so we need to be careful. At the very least, this plan could ensure that you two will only have to deal with one of them. Anyway, I'm gonna go meet up with Asuna and fill her in on this."

"I'll come too," Kazuto added. "See you tomorrow, Kuroba."

The boys then headed off, leaving Kuroba alone. She checked her clock display and saw that it was three minutes before four.

"Oh crap," she muttered.

Kuroba quickly raced down off the patio and dashed through the shopping district before eventually arriving to the resort hotel. There she saw Megumi leaning back against a white stone gatepost while holding a small purple bag. As soon Megumi heard the vice-president approach her, she gave her a smile.

"Sorry I'm late," Kuroba quickly apologized while bowing her head.

"You don't have to apologize, Hime. I mean, it's only two minutes," Megumi said with a smile, but there seemed to be a hue of sadness in her tone and face, probably because Kuroba came empty-handed.

"I'm sorry, Megumi. I couldn't decide on a present."

She couldn't bring herself to admit that she lost track of time while hanging out with Frank. With how Megumi felt towards him, it probably would cost her their friendship.

"It's fine, Hime," Megumi said brightly. "We've got plenty of time on this trip to look for souvenirs and stuff. But…" Her voice wavered, and she cut herself off.

Kuroba lifted her head and gasped. Two trails of tears slid down Megumi's cheeks, illuminated by the setting sun.

"Megumi," Kuroba said hoarsely.

The brunette took a step back and quickly wiped her eyes with her right hand. "H-huh? What's wrong… I didn't mean to… Don't worry, Hime. It's…nothing." The tears didn't stop so Megumi decided to head for their room.

Kuroba stood there for ten seconds before leaning against the side of the gatepost and let out a heavy breath.

"I'm an idiot." Her voice was weak, which surprised her. "I tell Frank and the others not to get so involved in the Accelerated World that they begin to neglect the real world… and this happens."

Kuroba then thought about something Megumi had told her about a few weeks ago. Apparently, there was this book that Megumi loved to read but it needed a special verbal command to open. She would read it every single day until one day, she forgot what the command was. What Kuroba found strange about that story was that Megumi never talked about what that book was about.

Then there was the time Megumi mentioned how Kuroba seemed to always be in two different worlds. This world, and some other world. Immediately, Kuroba thought that the other world must be the Accelerated World, but Megumi isn't a Burst Linker so she shouldn't know about it.

Kuroba then found herself thinking of the first Nega Nebulus, which was destroyed two and a half years ago when Kuroba killed Red Rider, which was her greatest mistake that she only recently began coming to terms with it. Most of its former members she never met in person, save for one, a female Burst Linker named Sky Raker, whose real name was Fuko Kurasaki. Sky Raker was special among Duel Avatars because before Black Wolf appeared, Sky Raker was the only Burst Linker who came the closest to being able to fly. Sadly, the two girls had lost contact after the first Black Legion had split up. She knows that Fuko is still in Tokyo as she sometimes sees her avatar's name on the matching list, but something always holds her back from visiting her friend.

"Honestly. I keep trying to connect with Frank, but do I really deserve it," she muttered, and stared at her right hand. She imagined her fingers being replaced by a jet-black sword, one of Black Lotus's arm-blades. A blade that cut through everything, even bonds of friendship.

_You're putting way too much pressure on yourself,_ a voice said suddenly, one that seemed familiar.

Kuroba gasped as she found herself standing a clear platform in an orange sky. She saw strange birdlike creatures soaring through the air, occasionally screeching. But that wasn't the strangest thing she saw. Down below, Kuroba could a flying cylindrical fortress of sorts that decreased in diameter halfway up that had a small red palace on the very top.

"That's Aincrad, the floating castle," a female voice said.

The Black Lotus player looked to her right and saw a purple-haired girl who was wearing obsidian chest armor a long-sleeved bluebottle violet tunic which showed part of her sides, as well as her shoulders, purple fingerless gloves, a windswept shirt that went a little bit past her thighs and parted on her right leg of the same color, and purple high heeled boots that went all the way up to her knees. She also had a red headband that held up her bangs and a purple sword in a scabbard of the same color strapped to her waist. She seemed to be staring at the castle.

"Who…" Kuroba began.

The other girl held her hands behind her back. "Years ago, I was trapped in that castle," she explained, her red eyes filled with longing. "Like many, I had to fight to survive and grow stronger, but I don't regret my time there one bit. It's because of this world that I got to meet people I never would have met in the real world."

The girl turned her gaze at Kuroba and smiled. "But out of all the friends I made, there was one who I was unable to help. He kept choosing to shoulder things alone, no matter how heavy they were. I had hoped that one day he would finally realize that I was there for him, but he never did. And now my time has come to an end." The girl lowered her head in shame. "Please, don't make the same mistakes I made. Make him realize that he can rely on you to carry his burdens."

Somehow Kuroba knew who the girl was talking about. Which meant that this girl was…

Kuroba then found herself back outside the resort hotel. No time seemed to have passed which left her feeling confused.

_"What… what was that?"_ she asked herself. _"Was I imagining things just now? No, it felt way too weird to be my imagination. And that girl. Could that have been… Yuuki?"_

**To be continued**

* * *

**Sorry for the late update. I've been playing a lot of Fire Emblem: Three Houses and it was eating up all of my free time. Then I switched to playing Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet on my Switch. Anyway, the Okinawa arc finally begins. Originally I was hoping to adapt the entire 18th episode into this chapter but it already getting really long and this seems like a good stopping point. See you guys next time!**


	16. Two Fronts

Kazuto was sitting in a chair on the porch of his and Frank's hotel room. He had changed into black sleepwear but found that it was difficult to sleep. He gazed up at the night sky and felt a light breeze brush his skin.

"It sure is peaceful here," Kazuto found himself saying aloud.

"Yeah, it is."

Kazuto simply chuckled as he looked over his shoulder and saw Frank right behind him.

"I'm guessing you finished going over the plan with Asuna?" Kazuto questioned.

"Yeah, we don't know how many allies Cyan Demon had or even if this threat is related. We can't afford to take any unnecessary risks."

"Agreed." Kazuto then noticed Frank looking up at the sky. There was a twinge of sadness in the Black Wolf player's eyes. "Are you thinking about your parents? Your _birth_ parents?"

Frank let out a sigh in defeat. "You always see right through me, Kazuto."

Kazuto simply chuckled. "We've been best friends for twenty years now. Of course I can tell what you're thinking."

The Aegis cracked a faint smile before it quickly faded. He looked ready to say something when a knocking could be heard on the hotel door.

"Were we expecting anybody?" Frank questioned.

"Not to my knowledge," Kazuto answered.

The boys slowly made their way to the hotel door, where they heard a familiar voice on the other side.

"Kirito, Marth, are you guys still awake?" It was Asuna's voice, allowing the two to relax.

"Yeah, we're still awake," Kazuto replied as he opened the door. "Is everything okay?"

Asuna was wearing a white t-shirt, pajamas and slippers. Her hair looked a little wet, meaning she had taken a shower recently.

"I'm not sure. I was trying to go to sleep in my room when I got a weird feeling, so I decided to check on you guys."

"That might have been my fault," Frank said. "I was just thinking about the past, _before_ I met Kazuto the first time."

Asuna's heart filled with dread. She knew that Frank and Meg had a tragic past twenty years ago involving their birth parents, but she didn't know the full story. Kazuto, on the other hand, knew the full story since Frank confided to him about it during the early years of their friendship.

"Um, if you want to talk about it, I'm happy to listen," Asuna offered. "That's what friends are for after all."

Frank couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Asuna. I think it's about time you hear the story too. You've done a lot for me, it's only fair."

Asuna smiled back and let herself inside the boys' room.

"Can I join in too?"

The trio turned and saw Kuroba by the door now. She was wearing the same outfit as Asuna, only her clothes were black instead of white.

"I'm sorry," Kuroba continued. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. If you don't want me here, I understand. I mean, you three have been friends way longer than me. I don't want to make it look like I'm pushing too hard."

Frank turned to face Kazuto, who remained silent. The look in the Graphite Edge player's eyes said one thing. _It's your decision to make._

Frank returned his gaze and gestured for Kuroba to enter, which she seemed surprised about. "It might be good for you to know as well. I have to warn you though, some parts are a little hazy, but it might be because of the memory loss."

"That's fine," Kuroba answered. "Just tell me what you do remember."

The group went further inside the room, with Kazuto checking the hallway for any potential eavesdroppers before closing the door. He then saw by Frank on the latter's bed while Kuroba and Asuna were sitting on Kazuto's bed. Both of the girls patiently stared at Frank, waiting for him to speak.

"It was on a Christmas Eve," Frank began. "Me, Meg, and our parents in Tokyo for a family vacation. However, none could have known the horrors that awaited us…"

* * *

**Flashback- December 24th, 2018**

A ten-year old Frank was walking through a park in Tokyo with his family. His hair and eyes brown, their original color. They were all dressed in warm clothing as the chilly night air blew past them.

"So, are you both enjoying Japan?" Serena asked her children in English.

Frank made a huge grin on his face. "It's awesome! I can't believe we're actually here! Japan makes my favorite games and shows so you bet I'm loving this."

Meg simply shook her head in exasperation. "Calm down, Frank," she said with a bored tone. "It's not that big a deal."

The older sibling glared at his sister and retorted, "Well it's better than going to that soccer game back home. I can't see how you find sports so interesting. They're so boring!"

"Well I can say the same thing about your video games!" Meg argued back. "I swear you spend playing them than with me!"

"No I don't! I play with you all the time! We just played that new Smash game that just came out."

"I rest my case," Meg said.

Tony and Serena simply chuckled as their children continued their bickering. Despite what it looked like, Frank and Meg were very close, they just have a habit of butting heads against each other.

"Now, now," Tony said calmly, but retained his grin. "You two better behave or this vacation might get an early end."

Frank and Meg both let out a pouted huff and turned away from each other. Suddenly Tony noticed the wind stopped blowing and the air had become eerily quiet.

"Weird," he muttered to himself.

Serena glanced at her husband and said, "Is something wrong, dear?"

Even Frank and Meg felt something was off, but they didn't know why.

Tony checked his surroundings, as if expecting an attack. He had some military training but left shortly after meeting Serena because he didn't want her to constantly worry about him if he was ever dispatched to a war zone. Right now, his instincts were telling him to run but there was nothing that seemed suspicious.

"Let's get back to the apartment," Tony said suddenly, his voice becoming stern.

No one questioned the older man and began walking down the sidewalk, towards their apartment building. However, Frank found himself staring at a tree and saw a strange shadow behind it. Suddenly a loud cackling echoed in the air.

"Hahahah! Look what we found," a strange voice said, also in English. "A little family wandering in the dark."

The Storm family halted in their tracks as they found themselves surrounded by shadowy figures, at least four in total. The figures seemed humanoid, but they couldn't make out what they looked like. It was because Frank's memory of the event was hazy but there will be a time when he would fully remember it.

"What do you want?" Tony asked fiercely as he and Serena guarded their children from both sides.

"From you, nothing," the lead shadow figure said. "However," the figure pointed a finger at Frank, who was clutching his father's coat tightly out of fear, "that boy will become a grave threat to our master. We have come to take his life before he becomes too powerful to stop."

Tony balled his fists in anger. He didn't understand what they meant by "master", but it was clear that they were after his son. He didn't need to look down to see that Frank was terrified. The shadowy figures then summoned their weapons, which were a greatsword, a double-axe, a lance, and a katana.

"Serena, take the kids and run," Tony whispered quietly.

"What? But what about you?" Serena questioned in shock.

"Don't worry about me, just go."

Serena lowered her eyes to her children and saw the fear in their eyes. Sure there was a chance that she could get away with them, but there was a chance the figures could catch up with them and kill them. The older woman then realized that she had to make a hard choice. She knelt down and said to them, "Listen carefully. Once you two see an opening, run as fast as you can. Don't stop, no matter what."

Meg let out a gasp. "What? No. Don't make us leave you!"

"Serena, no!" Tony argued.

"We don't have time to discuss this. If we both stay behind, it'll give Frank and Meg enough time to get away. Besides, there's no way I'd leave you, Tony."

Tony let out a defeated groan. "Fine. I know better than to argue when you decide something." He turned towards his son and said to him, "Frank, you and Meg need to go. You both have to survive."

Frank's eyes widened in disbelief. "Dad, no!"

The figures were getting closer, prompting Tony to ball his fists. "Just go. Your mother and I will catch up. Now run."

As soon as the nearest figure was in range, the one with the greatsword, Tony swung his right fist and punched the figure in the face. The figure reeled back before sneering.

"That was a mistake, human," the figure said coldly. "I'll make your death as painful as possible."

Frank saw an opening to escape and grabbed his sister's hand. "Let's go."

Meg didn't object and let her brother lead her away. She wanted to turn around and see her parents, but remembered Serena's words and kept looking ahead of her.

"The brat's getting away!" the axe-wielder exclaimed.

"Kill these two first!" the greatsword user commanded. "Those kids won't go too far."

Frank ran as fast as his legs would carry him, while Meg followed close behind. After a few minutes of running, they stopped and hide behind a tree. Suddenly they heard a terrible scream, and then, silence.

Meg clutched her brother's coat as she cowered behind him. "Brother, you don't think…?" Her tone was slow and full of fear.

Internally, Frank was freaking out but he tried his best to hide for the sake of his sister. He turned around and grasped her by her shoulders.

"I'm sure Mom and Dad are okay," Frank said with a forced smile. "I bet they're beating up those guys as we speak."

"I wouldn't be too sure."

Frank's eyes went wide as he saw the figure with a greatsword behind him. The edges of the sword was caked with a red liquid, blood. The other figures were coming into sight too, their weapons also having traces of blood on them.

"No."

The katana-user cackled. "Those humans were foolish to believe they could beat us. They fought so hard to buy you brats time to escape, but they just gave their lives for nothing."

Frank gritted his teeth and exclaimed, "You monsters!" He charged at the figure in front of him and pulled back his right fist.

The greatsword-user simply chuckled before slapping the young boy with the flat of his blade, sending the boy flying into the trunk of the tree.

Pain flared all across Frank's body as he struggled to breathe. He fell on his knees and let out a hard cough, traces of blood coming out as well.

"Brother!" Meg shouted as she hurried to her sibling.

Frank tried to get up, but the pain made it impossible to focus. His vision became blurry, but he could see Meg holding him in a tight hug, almost like she was trying to shield him.

"And to think this little boy is to become our master's greatest adversary," the greatsword-user proclaimed, almost sounding disappointed. He raised his sword high, readying a blow to kill both siblings at once.

Frank and Meg closed their eyes and braced for the end. "I'm sorry, Mom, Dad," he whispered. "I tried my best, but I failed."

Suddenly Frank heard a loud clash, but he didn't feel anything touch him. Slowly, he opened his eyes and vaguely saw a girl wearing black futuristic armor in front of him. She had long black hair that went down to her waist as well as a bladed skirt. She was blocking the greatsword with what seemed to be black blades (Frank couldn't tell because of his position and clouded vision), causing sparks to fly through the air.

The greatsword user gasped in shock before he found himself knocked back by the girl. "No! It can't be you!"

"I won't let you kill Frank," the girl said angrily. "If you want him, you'll have to go through me first."

The next few minutes were hazy after that. As soon as Frank was able to see clearly again, all the assailants were gone, but the girl remained.

* * *

**Present Day**

"Well?" Kuroba questioned. "What happened after that?"

Frank cradled his head in his right palm. "It's a little hazy, but the girl disappeared without a trace. Eventually the police showed up and took me and Meg to a nearby station. That's when…" his voice cracked, "we learned that our parents were dead, stabbed and cut to death. They didn't believe us about the girl saving us, saying that it was our brains trying to make us accept what we saw. The police tried to find the culprits, but the case went cold after a few weeks.

"Since Meg and I didn't have any other family, we were taken to an orphanage in Tokyo. That's where we got a better handle on Japanese and eventually we were adopted by a young couple, Ryoma and Eriko Furuta. I think they originally wanted only one kid, but they changed their minds when they saw us. They even let us keep our old last names, but on paper, my name is actually Frank Storm-Furuta, but I don't really use it that often."

Asuna's eyes filled with grief and she felt her heart ache. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Marth. I can't imagine losing my parents."

Frank forced himself to smile and leaned back on the bed. "Yeah, my life certainly wasn't a pleasant one, but there were some good things that came from it, like meeting Kazuto. He helped me get through it."

"Is that true?" Kuroba said.

Kazuto nodded in confirmation. "You bet. I met Frank back when we were in elementary school, but that's a story for another day. Hell, if Frank didn't stay in Japan, all of our lives would be very different. Me for example, I probably would've isolated myself from everyone in Aincrad had Frank not been there. The two of us always had each other's backs, even though we were solo players for the most part."

"Yeah, there were a handful of times I would've died if Kazuto wasn't there," Frank added. "We teamed up so much that people began calling us 'the Darkness Duo'. We weren't the biggest fans of the name, but it sort of grew on us after a while."

"Darkness Duo," Kuroba whispered, lowering her head. She knew the various nicknames the Alfheim Warriors had from the archives, but she never quite realized that 'the Darkness Duo' name practically symbolized the deep bond between Marth and Kirito. It made her own bond with the Dark Swordsman feel insignificant compared to that.

Frank noticed that his Driver was being oddly quiet and said, "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, thanks for telling me your story," Kuroba said hastily. She stifled a yawn. "It's getting really late. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

The others watched as she stood up and exited the room.

"Anyone else think that was weird?" Kazuto questioned.

"Yeah, I'll go talk to her," Asuna replied. "Good night, Kirito. Good night, Marth."

Asuna quickly exited the boys' room and found Kuroba sitting in the hallway, outside her own room.

"I thought you were going to sleep," Asuna said light-heartedly, before sitting right next to the Black King.

"Asuna, should I really be Frank's Driver?" Kuroba questioned.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"It's just… Frank and Kazuto have been best friends for years. They understand each other in a way that I can't." Kuroba brought her hand to her chest, the place where her Core Crystal was located. "Let's face it, the reason Frank resonated with me was to save my life, but his true resonance is with Kazuto. He's Frank's _real_ partner, not me."

Asuna wrapped her arm around her Legion Master and pulled her into a gentle embrace.

"Don't say that. I think you've got the potential to form the same kind of bond with Marth that he has with Kirito. Just stop doubting yourself and be there for Marth. Kirito may be his partner, but you're his Driver. Something tells me that you three will achieve something great together."

Kuroba felt her eyes water up. "Thanks, Asuna. I needed to hear that. I think I know what I want now. I don't want to replace Kazuto as Frank's partner. I want to be their _other_ partner. Someone they can both rely on in a fight."

Asuna smiled. "That's the spirit. Just don't forget me and the other Nega Nebulus members. We're here for you guys too."

Kuroba let out a light chuckle as she and the Argent Flash player rose to their feet. "I won't," she said. "Anyway, we should get some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow."

"We sure do. Good night, Kuroba."

"Good night, Asuna."

* * *

**The Next Day- April 14th, 2057**

Kuroba and Kazuto were wondering down the street. They had just parted ways with Frank and Asuna, who had gone to fulfill their objective.

"Hey, Kuroba, did something happen between you and Megumi?" Kazuto questioned. "When we were leaving the hotel, she was giving us an odd look."

"So you noticed it too. Well, she and I planned to get souvenirs for each other yesterday, unfortunately thanks to our new friends, I forgot about it. I'll have to remember to get one for her today to make up for it."

"I see," Kazuto replied. "Well luckily Brain Burst accelerates times so we can get this done in no time. Let's try to beat Frank and Asuna by completing our mission first."

Kuroba simply smirked. "Very well. I'll be counting on you, partner." She held out her fist towards the Graphite Edge player.

Kazuto was surprised by the statement but cracked a grin and returned the gesture.

"Kuroba! Kirito!" a familiar voice cried out.

The black-haired duo turned and saw Ruka and Mana running towards them. Once they were two feet away from the teens, they hunched over and let out several pants.

"We finally found you two," Ruka said in exhaustion. "We really should've designated a meeting spot yesterday. Anyway, are you guys ready?"

"We are," Kazuto said. "I'm guessing we'll be meeting your master in the Unlimited Neutral Field. That way we can learn about this threat and deal with it at the same time."

"You got it," Ruka confirmed. "We dive right here if you want."

"No," Kuroba said suddenly. "We don't know how long we'll be in there. It's too risky to dive right on the sidewalk. We'll dive at the hotel cafeteria. It's much safer there."

"Okay," Mana replied. "Lead the way."

* * *

Kuroba, Kazuto, Mana and Ruka had arrived at the hotel, with the latter two in awe at the chandeliers that were hanging from the high ceiling.

"This place is so pretty," Mana commented.

"Hey, Kuroba," Kazuto whispered to his Legion Master. "We won't get in trouble for this, will we?"

"As long as we don't take them to our rooms, we should be okay," Kuroba muttered. "Still, let's get this done as soon as possible, just in case."

The group entered the hotel's cafeteria and took sat by one of the four-person booths. Kuroba grabbed four small link cables from a nearby rack and inserted them one after the other into the router for wired connections that was built into the table. She then had Ruka and Mana turn off their wireless global connection and inserted two of the opposite ends of the cables into their Neurolinkers. She and Kazuto then did the same thing with the remaining cords.

"Okay, this connection will be good for five minutes," Kuroba explained. "Once the timer finishes, we'll be logged off immediately. In accelerated time, this will give us around eighty-three hours. That should be plenty of time to meet your master and find out what this threat is. Is everyone ready?"

"Yeah!" the others agreed.

"Then let's…"

"Oh, wait, Kuroba!" Ruka said suddenly, her tone sounding surprised. She pointed at Mana, who's head was hanging low and her upper body was moving back and forth.

"What's wrong with her?" Kazuto questioned.

"Don't worry," Ruka replied. "Her Yuta blood's coming out."

"Her what now?!"

"Yuta," Kuroba realized. "Mana's an Okinawan shaman."

Mana's unusual behavior then stopped as quickly as it started. She blinked several times and eyed Kuroba.

"We need one more," Mana said innocently.

"One more what?" Kuroba questioned.

"This cable. We need one more."

Kazuto and Kuroba locked eyes, with both wondering what to do.

"We might as well do it," Kazuto said. "I've seen stranger things before. This is hardly anything new."

"Alright," Kuroba replied.

Kazuto pulled out his personal cord from his pocket and set it on the table. "Okay. Do I need to plug it in somewhere?"

"Nope," Mana said with a smile. "Just leave it there."

Kazuto was suspicious at the vague wording, but obeyed nonetheless. However, he couldn't help but get a sense that they were being watched, but there was no one else in the room. Regardless, he started the timer for the router and the group all chanted, "Unlimited Burst!" and with that, they all entered the Unlimited Neutral Field.

* * *

Frank and Asuna were wandering through the shopping district, looking for anything suspicious. However, everything seemed to be normal.

"Hey, Marth, do you think we're overthinking this?" Asuna questioned. "Maybe this isn't connected to Cyan Demon."

"It's possible," Frank admitted. "But we can't afford to not investigate. If Kazuto and I are wrong, then that means everything's okay. But if we're not, then we need to know just how many monsters are still around."

"Good point. We were lucky that we managed to intercept Cyan Demon back at the hospital. Then there's the attacks on Thorrnn and the others. According to them, there's at least two other monsters that were working with Cyan Demon, but there's a chance that there might be more of them out there."

"Yeah. I might be able to fight them off here in the real world, but I'm worried about you, Asuna," Frank said. "You can't defend yourself like I can."

"Not exactly," Asuna replied. "Don't you remember? During the Demon War, you unleashed a wave of energy which allowed people to access their powers from the virtual world in the real one."

"Oh yeah. The Fenrir Effect. I can't believe I forgot about that. I think I should be able to use it again, but let's wait until we find something before then."

"Okay," Asuna said with a light smile.

Suddenly Frank felt a cold sensation run down his neck. He traced the feeling to a nearby alleyway where he saw a cloaked figure looking right at him.

"Found you," Frank muttered.

The figure quickly sped off, with Frank and Asuna in hot pursuit. The figure kept making quick turns to different alleys, but the duo managed to keep up thanks to Frank's searching skill.

"Looks like you and Kirito were right after all," Asuna said.

"It looks that way," Frank replied. "But where the hell does this guy think he's going? He doesn't seriously believe he can outrun us, does he?"

The duo saw their target duck into a warehouse, prompting them to follow. However, as soon as they entered the building, the doors slammed shut.

"They won't budge," Asuna complained as she tried to pry open the doors. "Can you bust us out of here?"

"Yeah, it's just an ordinary building. Lunara and Solaris should be able to cut through the doors." Frank switched to Marth (ALO form) and activated his searching skill again, causing his eyes to take on a shade of green. "Interesting. This whole place is abandoned. That's certainly convenient."

"Hey, your ears are pointed again," Asuna noticed.

Marth felt his right ear with a gloved hand and sure enough, the ear was longer and pointed instead of short and rounded. His eyes also regained their normal color as he deactivated his searching skill. "Weird. I guess my ALO avatar reset itself or something."

Asuna then looked around the warehouse. There were tons of crates of varying sizes everywhere save for a big clearing in the middle of the building. The warehouse was darkened save for the ceiling lights and the windows which let sunlight in.

"This place is kinda creepy," Asuna said. "Did we just walk into a trap?"

"Looks that way," Marth replied. "Time to see if I really can still use the Fenrir Effect."

Marth crossed his arms and held them close to his chest. He closed his eyes and began channeling his power to his Core Crystal, which began glowing with silver light. Once he felt it charge up enough power, he swung his arms downward, sending a wave of silver energy out from his body in all directions. The wave didn't stop until it reached the walls of the warehouse and promptly faded away.

"Gah!" Asuna instinctively shielded her head with her arms as the wave struck her, but instead of feeling pain, she felt a strange power well up inside her. Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw that she was in her SAO avatar again, the Lighting Flash, vice-commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Her rapier, Lambent Light, was in its scabbard that was strapped to her waist.

"Looks like you can still use Fenrir Effect after all," Asuna commented.

Marth nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. Now we can both defend ourselves if we're attacked. Now let's go."

The duo drew their weapons and proceeded further into the warehouse, keeping an eye out for any sudden attacks. Asuna felt the memories of the Fenrir Effect flow through her mind, reminding her of what it can do, like allowing her to switch to her different avatars at will. Her SAO avatar was arguably her strongest one since she had used it for two years, but her ALO and Brain Burst avatars had their other uses too.

The duo made their way to the center of the warehouse, when suddenly they heard a voice say, "It's about time you showed up, _Dark Swordsman_. I've been waiting a long time for this."

Marth immediately tensed up as the cloaked figure from before dropped down and landed a few feet in front of them. The figure's frame seemed petite, meaning that they were likely female.

"So you know who I am?" Marth questioned.

"Indeed I do," the figure said. "I could never forget your face, not after what you did."

Marth raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? Who are you?"

"You can call me Serra. As for what you did, I'd love to tell you, but where's the fun in that? Now then, it's time to fight."

The figure cast off her cloak revealing her silver breastplate, a long-sleeved red tunic and gloves, a silver mail skirt and boots. She had a red hood, concealing her hair and wore a red mask. Her weapons were a mace and a shield.

"I guess we'll have to beat her to get some answers," Asuna said as she readied her rapier. "Ready Marth?"

"You bet," the Spriggan answered.

The duo charged at Serra with Marth in front. A loud clash echoed through the air.

* * *

Graphite Edge found himself in a ruined city, standing right outside the hotel. The sun seemed to be setting, giving the city an orangey hue. This was the Weathered stage, however, it was bringing back painful memories of the Demon War to the Black Swordsman. His breathing became ragged as he found it difficult to stay standing.

_"No. Stop thinking about it,"_ Graphite Edge said in his head. _"If I don't calm down, I'll Zero Out."_ However, his mind betrayed him as he saw a flash of him holding Yuuki's corpse in his arms.

"Kirito. Are you okay?"

Graphite Edge let out a gasp before looking to his right, where he saw Black Lotus, who looked concerned. The metal-type let out a heavy sigh as he somehow managed to push away the memories.

"I think so," Graphite Edge answered. "This place… it reminded me of a certain event. One that'll always haunt me."

Black Lotus knew that her teammate was referring to the Demon War. When she saw the stage they were in, she was worried that the trauma would be too much for the Black Swordsman and he would go into Zero-Fill. In fact, even the World's End stage that appeared in regular matches could be a little much for any of the former Alfheim Warriors, especially Marth and Kirito, so they always rushed through their fights if they ever ended up on that stage before the trauma could fully surface. But here in the Unlimited Neutral Field, Kirito doesn't have that luxury. The only way for him to get out of here would be to go to a log-out point or for his connection to be severed.

"Will you be okay here?" Black Lotus questioned. "If not, then you can log out if you want."

"I appreciate the concern, but I'll be fine," Graphite Edge replied. "This might be the best way for me to overcome my PTSD from the Demon War." He turned towards Lagoon Dolphin and Coral Merrow, who were a few feet in front of them. "Where's your master?"

"This way!" Dolphin exclaimed, sounding as energetic as always. She and Coral Merrow began running through the courtyard, prompting the older Burst Linkers to follow them.

As they ran, Graphite Edge felt a strange sensation, like there was something that shouldn't be in the Accelerated World. It was similar to when he, Marth and Asuna confronted Cyan Demon at the hospital in Tokyo, but not completely. He also felt like his partner and girlfriend were in the middle of a fight. It was likely remnants of his resonance with the Aegis. While it was unlikely enough for Kirito to be able to wield Lunara and Solaris, it was enough for him sense his best friend if he focused hard enough.

After running down the cracked street for a few minutes, a cluster of smaller buildings came into view just ahead of the group. If this was the real world, it probably would be the shopping district where Kirito and Kuroba were earlier. Obviously, there weren't any tourists since this was the Accelerated World.

The Okinawan Burst Linkers lead the duo to the center of the shopping district, where there was a lone bar with a neon sign flashing.

"Huh, so there's a shop in a place like this," Black Lotus mused to herself.

There were shops that were run by NPCs scattered across the Unlimited Neutral Field. Surprisingly, there was a healthy variety of them that sold different things, ranging from special-effect card items, Enhanced Armaments, clothing, food and drinks, even clothing and housing. Back in Tokyo, the shops were mainly in the shopping districts of Ikebukuro, Shinjuku and Akihabara, but Lotus has come across some businesses that were in the middle of nowhere.

Since this shop was a bar, it was clear that it was a drinking spot. In the real world, middle schoolers (Ruka and Mana) would not be allowed here, but they went in without hesitation.

"Hi, Master!"

A few seconds later, a lifeless male voice from inside said, "Yeah… hi."

"Something tells me this might be harder than we thought," Black Lotus whispered to her partner.

"Yeah. Anyway, let's get this over with."

The Nega Nebulus members entered the store, where they saw Dolphin and Merrow standing by a small red duel avatar who was sitting by the bar while resting his head. There was a humanoid drone on the other side of the bar, which served as the NPC shop clerk. The duel avatar had a part of a flat hexagonal pillar on his head like a hat, and his face was a perfect circle. His torso was the same width as his head and his arms were halved cylinders. He also had zigzagging notches carved in detail over the surface of his armor.

"Are you really drunk in the middle of the day?" Merrow questioned. "You're starting to act like all the other adults."

"I'm not an adult," the red duel avatar replied, slurring his words. "I'm only sixteen. Barkeep, give me another three-hundred-year-old kusu liquor coming."

The robot let out an unintelligible electronic noise before refilling the Burst Linker's cup.

"Great," Graphite Edge muttered. "Their master's an alcoholic. This just keeps getting better."

Black Lotus didn't respond as she stared at the red duel avatar with curiosity. Something about him seemed familiar to her.

"Come on!" Dolphin shouted. "This isn't the time to be sitting around drinking! Look, Master, we brought some people who can help us!"

"What? You were serious about getting outsiders to help us?" the male avatar said, sorrow tinged his voice. "What's the point? It's useless. We're screwed. We're screwed! One or two people helping out against a giant monster isn't gonna make a lick of difference."

"Hey, you," Black Lotus spoke up, hoping to get his attention, but he ignored her.

"I'm a level 7 and I couldn't come close to stopping that thing. Even a level 8 wouldn't be able to put him away. There's just no way. We'd need one of the Seven Kings to even stand a chance. Hell, we might even need the legendary Darkness Duo but good luck finding them, if they're still around."

_"Actually, you kind of did,"_ Graphite Edge thought to himself. _"Granted Marth's not here right now, but they did find us."_

"I said, 'Hey'!" Black Lotus exclaimed in irritation.

"Let me tell you, unless you can drag the Black King or the Darkness Duo here, I'm not moving…from this…" The red avatar abruptly stood up from his stool and looked at Black Lotus with drunken eyes, causing his words to gradually slow down until he fell into complete silence.

"I thought it was you," Black Lotus said with a light smile. "It's been a long time, Crikin."

The red avatar was completely dumbfounded, his eyes blinking rapidly to make sure it wasn't him hallucinating. "Those blades… that hair… and the fact that you called me Crikin… Is it really you, Black Lotus, the Black King?! Seriously?!"

Crikin ended up dropping his cup from the shock. Graphite Edge, on the other hand, simply shook his head.

_"Looks like Kuroba's got some explaining to do,"_ the dual wielder thought to himself. _"I hope Marth and Asuna are faring better than us right now."_

**To be continued**

* * *

**Looks like things are getting interesting in Okinawa. I actually wanted this chapter to be a little bit longer, but this seems like a good stopping point. Anyway, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**

**Marth and Kirito's resonance: While it is not as strong as it was during the Demon War, traces of their resonance still lingers between Marth and Kirito. It allows them to sense each other but it is unsafe for Kirito to wield Lunara and Solaris. The only reason the connection still remains is because of the strong bond between Marth and Kirito. Where it will lead them though, that is the true question.**


	17. Crimson Kingbolt

**April 14th, 2057**

Marth intercepted Serra's mace with his swords by using the Cross Block technique, the Dual Wielding defensive skill from Sword Art Online. Sparks flew off their weapons as they clashed. Serra's swing was much stronger than he expected but Marth was able to force her weapon away from him with his swords. Serra was also knocked back a little.

"Is that all you've got?" Marth questioned, not lowering his swords.

Serra let out a scoff. "Hell no. I haven't even begun trying yet. I have to make you pay for what you did!"

Marth raised an eyebrow before pulling back Lunara. The black blade began glowing bloodred as he activated Vorpal Strike, one of his, and Kirito's, favorite sword skills from SAO. Both dual wielders considered the Vorpal Strike to be a very broken skill because of it's amazing utility, both against monsters and other players. In fact, they used the skill so much, it was practically considered to be one of their signature moves.

He let the skill take control of his body, lunging him, and his sword at his opponent at high speed. Serra quickly raised her shield and was barely able to block the attack. Marth's momentum also caused him to slide passed her and stop two feet behind her.

"You're mine!" Serra bellowed as she turned around and prepared to strike the Spriggan with her mace.

"I don't think so!"

Suddenly a white blur got between the two, stopping the attack with her rapier.

"Thanks, Asuna," Marth said as he recovered from his post-motion delay.

The Lightning Flash gave her friend a warm smile. "I've got your back, Marth."

Asuna knocked Serra's mace away from her before activating the four-hit rapier skill, Quadruple Pain. Serra was only able to block the first two attacks with her shield but the remaining two managed to slip through and strike her shoulders.

"Damn it," Serra cursed as the rapier skill's secondary effect immobilized her.

"Switch!" Asuna shouted.

"Raaah!" Marth bellowed as he ran past his teammate, his black sword glowing blue as he activated Vertical Square. He managed to land all four hits on Serra, damaging her armor. He then chained it with Horizontal Square with Solaris, injuring her even more.

However, what Marth found strange was that the blood coming from Serra's wounds were red. Whenever monsters bled during the Demon War, they had black blood.

_"It can't be,"_ Marth thought to himself. _"Is Serra… human?!"_

"Grr… I won't let you beat me!" Serra cried out in outrage. "You will pay for all the pain you've caused, Marth!"

"What are you talking about?" Marth questioned fiercely. "What pain have I caused?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Serra proclaimed. "You're the _real_ monster after all."

Marth let out a gasp in realization. There was one time where he had inflicted pain onto others, even though it wasn't his intention to do so. The Demon War.

"It can't be," Marth said slowly, unconsciously lowering his swords.

Serra cracked a wicked sneer as her mace began glowing yellow, with lightning crackling from the tip. She charged at the distracted Marth and lunged her mace at his chest.

Suddenly Asuna got in front of her childhood friend and intercepted the mace skill with her rapier.

"Snap out of it, Marth!" Asuna said hastily. "This isn't the time to get distracted!"

Her voice managed to snap the Spriggan from his thoughts before he rejoined the battle.

**Meanwhile**

Graphite Edge, Black Lotus, Lagoon Dolphin, Crikin and Coral Merrow all sat around the bar. Lotus told her partner that Crikin's Duel Avatar name was Crimson Kingbolt and that they were old friends. Crimson Kingbolt used to belong to a Purple Legion, Aurora Oval, led by the Purple King, Purple Thorn (also known as Empress Voltage), and he used to always fight Lotus when she was low-level. But he also helped her with fighting monsters in the Unlimited Neutral Field, where they became good friends.

"It's been three years since I last saw you, Black Lotus," Crimson Kingbolt said, reminiscing on the past. "When my parents got divorced, they asked me who I wanted to go with, so I flipped a coin and ended up choosing my dad. I never would've guessed that he wanted to move to Okinawa. If I had known, I would've chosen my mom, but it was too late to change it, so he dragged me here to Henoko (the city they're in)."

"I see," Graphite Edge said as he processed the information. "I'm impressed that you managed to stay a Burst Linker for so long."

"Thanks. I knew I'd have trouble finding other Burst Linkers here in Okinawa, but I was shocked to find that I was the only one on the island," Crimson Kingbolt explained. He jerked his thumb towards Dolphin, who was sitting to his right. "Ruka's a distant relative of mine, so my dad and I are staying with her family. One day I decided to take a gamble. I knew if I could get a copy of Brain Burst to install in Ruka, then I'd be able to give her all the Burst Points I had at the time so she could reach level 4. The reason why I did that gamble is because it's dangerous fighting even the lesser Enemies here in the Neutral Field solo, but if you're fairly solid as a tag team, then the Enemies are no problem."

(Enemies are what the monsters of the Accelerated World are called.)

"Looks to me like your gamble paid off," Black Lotus commented.

"More than that. Her grandfather's been teaching her karate since she was little. So she turned out to be a perfect blue-type close-range fighter. She's really strong."

Lagoon Dolphin, who had been silent for most of the chat, began happily giggling. "I still have a long way to go," she said. "I got my butt handed to me by both Lotus and Black Wolf."

Crimson Kingbolt's right eyepiece widened in confusion. "Who's Black Wolf?"

"My protégé," Black Lotus answered. "He's a level 5, same as Ruka and Mana, but he's really skilled with a sword. He's even been teaching me some of his moves."

"Wow," Crimson Kingbolt said in awe. "So you finally got a protégé? That's neat. And who's the guy next to you. I don't remember seeing him in Nega Nebulus."

"You can call me Graphite Edge," the metal-type replied. "I joined Nega Nebulus a few months ago. I'm level 5 as well and just as skilled as Wolf."

"I see. Is he here in Okinawa too?"

Graphite Edge paused for a moment before he thought of what to say. "He is. Unfortunately, he couldn't come because he had real world issues to deal with."

"Bummer, but I guess it can't be helped. Anyway, Ruka and I began hunting the lesser classes of monsters, or sometimes when the conditions were good, we'd aim for a Wild class. Slow and steady, we earned points together, and then we took another gamble. Ruka knows Mana because they do karate together and Ruka tried to install Brain Burst on Mana. I figured we had an eighty percent chance of failing, though."

"Heeey! What's that supposed to mean, Master?!" Coral Merrow objected.

Both Graphite Edge and Black Lotus understood Crimson Kingbolt's concern though. Aside from the Originators, the first Burst Linkers, all Burst Linkers could only share the program with another person once, and it wasn't always a guarantee that the installation would be successful. Kirito and Kuroba had to make the same gamble with Asuna and Marth respectively, since neither of the latter two had a Neuro Linker since birth, one of the major requirements to install Brain Burst.

However, Kirito did wonder how he ended up with the program. He found the program installed in his Neuro Linker seven months before Marth became a Burst Linker. After figuring out how Brain Burst worked, he shared it with Asuna and they decided to investigate the mysterious program before telling Marth about it.

It was difficult secret to hide, and Kirito still regrets keeping it from his best friend for so long, but because of Marth wasn't human, Kirito wanted to do whatever it took to protect him. Because Kirito was great at computer programming, he managed to create a program that hid both his and Asuna's Duel Avatars from the matching list. One of the reasons why he made the program was because he knew that Kuroba was a Burst Linker and he didn't want to risk him or Asuna getting attacked by her. He didn't know that she was the Black King or even considered a traitor in the Accelerated World, mostly because he didn't bother to actually do some research on her.

However, after the battle against Cyan Demon, both Kirito and Asuna deleted their stealth program, allowing their Duel Avatar names to appear on the matching list once again. It was a miracle that neither of them were penalized for using such an seemingly unfair program. That was mostly because Kirito had designed the program to not only hide their names from the matching list, but it also prevented them from accelerating so they couldn't exploit it against other Burst Linkers. But still, Kirito couldn't help but wonder if the creators of Brain Burst turned a blind eye on his and Asuna's actions.

"Anyway," Crimson Kingbolt continued. "Miraculously, that worked too, and we got Mana up to level 4 with the points we earned from hunting. And here we are. A happy little trio."

The two Okinawan Burst Linkers giggled as their master pulled them in for a hug.

"Indeed," Black Lotus said. "I guess this means that hunting monsters is a real lifeline here."

Suddenly a powerful earthquake shook the bar. Kingbolt tumbled helplessly from the fall while the others abruptly rose up from their seats.

"That wasn't natural," Graphite Edge spoke up, his instincts telling him that something was coming.

"Yes," Black Lotus agreed as another impact assaulted the bar.

The Nega Nebulus members used their senses to track the source of the earthquake. It wasn't the field itself that was shaking, but something enormous that was moving close by.

"Everyone, outside!" Black Lotus ordered before dashing out of the bar and onto the street outside, the others close behind.

There, they saw two large building across the street reduced to rubble by a huge creature. A cloud of dust surrounded it, making the creature hard to make out.

"What is that thing?" Graphite Edge questioned.

"That's the big Enemy we were telling you guys about," Lagoon Dolphin replied. "It goes around eating everything it sees."

Graphite Edge gritted his teeth in disgust. "What does it eat?"

"Other monsters. But it's only shown up in faraway hunting grounds until now," Coral Merrow said in a trembling voice. "One of them being where you can find ruins of an ancient fortress in the real world."

Both Graphite Edge and Black Lotus weren't surprised by how scared Merrow was. The figure in the distance was at least five meters tall to the top of its head and with the dust not settling, it was impossible to see how long the creature was. If it was one of the Enemies from the Unlimited Neutral Field, then it had to be a Beast class, one of the strongest types.

_"A ruined fortress?"_ Graphite Edge thought to himself. _"Could those ruins be from the Shadow Fortress?"_

"Kirito, could that _thing_ be one of Zarc's minions?" Black Lotus questioned quietly to her partner, who was right beside her.

The metal-type snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head. "That monster doesn't resemble anything I've seen from the Demon War. It must be a monster that's from this world. But what's it doing here?"

Black Lotus didn't answer as she eyed the monster warily as it let out a bloodcurdling roar.

Crimson Kingbolt let out a grunt. "Damn it. Lotus, Edge, take Ruka and Mana back to the hotel's leave point and get out of here while you can."

"Why?" Black Lotus questioned.

"Because that isn't an ordinary Enemy," Kingbolt said grimly. "It's a Legend-class Enemy and it's tamed."

"What?!" the Tokyo Burst Linkers exclaimed in shock.

Black Lotus had heard that it was possible to tame an Enemy, but it required for either a Burst Linker to have a special taming ability or using a special item. At the moment, the only Burst Linker Lotus knew that had a taming ability was Silica and that was because of her history with her little-feathered dragon, Pina. At the moment, Silica hasn't tamed any Enemies of the Unlimited Neutral Field, partially to avoid the attention it would give her and also because none of the Enemies she came across stood out to her.

However, there was an exception to the taming system. Legend-class Enemies were impossible to tame, mostly because of how powerful they were. Silica said so herself when Kuroba asked her about it. In order to tame an Enemy, you had to whittle away its health gauge until it was near death. Which meant that if someone had tamed the Legend-class monster in front of Lotus, they did so near the verge of death.

"Do you know who tamed it?" Black Lotus questioned.

"We don't know," Kingbolt replied. "Whoever it is, they don't appear on the matching list."

_"That reminds me of that Seiji kid at school,"_ Graphite Edge thought. _"I hope Sugu and the others are safe."_

"That means it must be another monster riding it," Lagoon Dolphin added.

The Enemy was getting closer and closer, about a hundred meters away, trampling any building it stepped on. The Black King wondered what she should do. She could easily do what Crikin said and retreat, however…

Lotus lowered her head and eyed the x-shaped Core Crystal on her chest, the crystal gleaming in the light. She could almost hear clashing of weapons in her mind.

_"Right now, Marth and Asuna are risking their lives fighting an unknown opponent,"_ the Black King thought to herself. _"If I run away from this thing, I won't be able to face either of them again. If I want to be Marth's other partner, then I have to fight."_

There had to be a connection between the Legend-class Enemy and Cyan Demon's allies, Lotus was sure about it. That left only one option for her.

"Kirito, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Graphite Edge simply smirked. "You bet. Let's take that thing down and get some answers." He glanced over his shoulder and eyed the other three Burst Linkers. "If you three want to escape, then I suggest you go now. Lotus and I have a few questions for this 'monster'."

"Besides," Black Lotus added. "Retreating without crossing swords isn't my style."

Crimson Kingbolt chuckled in amusement. "You haven't changed a bit, World End. I'll join in too. Lucky for us, we're inside the Weathered stage, where there's a ton of scrap metal lying around. And with the Black King on our side, we might actually stand a chance."

"Here it comes!" Black Lotus cried out.

The final building separating them from the creature vanished completely as if it exploded, allowing the group to get a good look at the Enemy. It kind of resembled a dinosaur. It had a tapered snout, an enormous jaw, red eyes, thick short legs supporting a cannonball body, and a long tail. It also had a large fin on its back.

"Just what the hell is that thing?!" Graphite Edge shouted.

"Its official name is Nidhogg, but I just call him Nick."

The voice came from above, right on the Enemy's head. Its source was none other than a Duel Avatar.

"Who are you?" Black Lotus asked fiercely.

The Burst Linker on the Nidhogg's head moved his right hand lightly. He was holding a silver chain that was connected to a band of leather wrapped around the dragon's snout. It was most likely the item that tamed the legendary creature.

"It's against my society's rules to reveal our names without any real provocation," the Burst Linker said. "But I never thought I'd come across the legendary Black King and Graphite Edge. Nick caught the scent of some huge prey, so I came to check it out just in case. Clearly that was the right choice. That means I must introduce myself."

Black Lotus muttered a curse under her breath. She had heard that tamed Enemies have demonstrated various abilities for the sake of their masters. The tamed Nidhogg must have a long-range tracking ability. That meant that she and Graphite Edge were responsible for bringing the Burst Linker and his monster to the town.

"It's not your fault," Crimson Kingbolt whispered. "I mean, you could call this a good opportunity. In the sense of my particular abilities."

"I'll be counting on you, Crikin," Lotus replied. "You as well, Edge."

Meanwhile the mysterious Burst Linker gave a quick bow.

"A pleasure to meet you, Black King, Graphite Edge. And greeting, people of the region. My name is Sulfur Pot. I look forward to knowing you better."

"So you finally name yourself," Crimson Kingbolt said. "I've been waiting for this day for the last three months, ever since you appeared! Listen up. The mighty power before you is known as…"

"Oh, it's fine. You don't need to tell me. There's no point when you'll be at total point loss soon enough."

Kingbolt literally fumed with rage as smoke came out of his ears. Both Lagoon Dolphin and Coral Merrow had to hold him from charging recklessly at the Legend-class Enemy and its master.

"I've never heard of the name 'Sulfur Pot' at all," Graphite Edge said.

"Neither have I," Black Lotus replied. "He must have become a Burst Linker after I went into hiding, but he acts like a veteran and even tamed a Legend-class Enemy. He either has a lot of battle experience, or the backing of a large Legion. But how did he avoid the matching list?"

"I think I know," Graphite Edge said slowly before speaking up. "He got here through the backdoor program."

Sulfur Pot's shoulders twitched. "I beg your pardon?" His voice was still calm, but his body language suggested that he was nervous.

The sunlight finally broke through the clouds, revealing the mysterious avatar's form. His armor was a fairly vivid yellow, but somewhat paler than Yellow Radio. Sulfur's body had an orthodox form, but had large holes in his shoulders, chest and hips drew an eye. His face looked as though he was wearing a mask and goggles.

"No wait," Graphite Edge corrected. "That program was rendered unusable after the last server update. But there's no doubt in my mind that you're using a similar cheat technique. That means you're not in Okinawa, but you're diving from Tokyo! I bet that you visited Okinawa three months ago and set up a cheat tool so you can dive here in Henoko."

"He's what?!" Kingbolt exclaimed in disbelief.

"That's not fair!" Merrow added.

Sulfur Pot, however, didn't even flinch at the accusation. After a few moments, he leaned back and said, "It seems they were right about you, Graphite Edge. Or should I say, the Black Swordsman?"

The group all gasped in shock, especially Edge and Lotus.

"How did you?" Graphite Edge asked, stunned.

"We've known your identity for a while now," Sulfur Pot proclaimed. "In fact, we've known ever since Cyan Demon was defeated. And it's not just your identity that we know, but all members of Nega Nebulus."

"Cyan Demon?" Black Lotus questioned. "Does that mean you're one of Zarc's minions too?!"

"Zarc? As in the demon guy that disappeared after the Demon War?" Kingpin said slowly. "But I thought all the monsters were defeated."

Sulfur Pot simply cackled. "Oh, I'm definitely a human. It's just that my group and the monsters' interest align."

Graphite Edge felt himself filling with rage. He, the Alfheim Warriors, and so many other players risked their lives to save the world from Zarc. He had seen people sacrifice themselves to protect others, one of whom was Yuuki, who gave her life to save his. But now there was a group of people who have chosen to join the monsters and even help them with their goals. It was the biggest insult to the ones who died in the Demon War.

"You bastard!" Graphite Edge cursed. "How can you be okay with siding with the forces that tried to destroy our world?! Do you have any idea how many people died so you could live?!"

"And thanks to their sacrifice, my group will unlock the secrets of the Accelerated World and be able to surpass all the humans. Even the Aegis won't be able to stop us."

The metal-type gritted his teeth and reached for his swords. "Why you…"

"Anyway, this wasn't part of my schedule, but I'm more than happy to make you and Black King disappears. Everyone would be so disappointed if our farming sees a setback here."

"What? Farming?" Black Lotus questioned.

"Could someone please tell me what the hell's going on?!" Crikin exclaimed.

"Sulfur's using some kind of cheat tool that allows him to create a hunting ground for low-class Enemies here in the Henoko area. A place like this is totally off the radar from any of the major Legions. Plus, he just admitted that he and his group have sided with the very monsters that the Alfheim Warriors and their allies had defeated thirty years ago during the Demon War."

Crimson Kingbolt's eyes went wide from shock. "Are you serious?! Why would anyone join Zarc's minions?!"

"It's really not that bad," Sulfur Pot said casually. "We're finding out a lot of things about Brain Burst thanks to them. All we have to do is help them find the Dark Swordsman and their master, the Demon King himself, Zarc. In fact, I'd wager to guess that one of my allies are fighting him right now. I wonder how long he'll last before he dies."

This time Black Lotus found herself overcome with rage. It wasn't just because Sulfur was using a cheat tool, but also because he sided with the monsters that were after the boy she loved. "Marth's stronger than you think he is, Sulfur Pot. I have a personal grudge against any kind of cheating and anyone who threatens my friends. I'll expose your petty little secret here, make it so you can't use that tool ever again and make sure you won't go anywhere near Marth!"

A loud clang echoed in the air as Black Lotus's arm-blades activated, "Don't think the title Legend Slayer belongs exclusively to the Blue King! My partner and I will tear that ride of yours to pieces and expose all of your dirty little tricks!"

"You got that right!" Graphite Edge declared as he drew his swords. "Anyone after my best friend has to deal with me! Your little farming trip ends right here!"

Sulfur Pot's eyes lit up beneath his goggles and responded in a low voice, "Those are some strong words. Even my guardian never spoke to me like that. Looks like a simple kill for you two won't be enough. Let's see how tough you two are once Nick tears off all your limbs from your body!"

The air immediately became tense and the temperature rose. Even the wind that normally blew on the Weathered stage had stopped.

"Crikin," Lotus murmured. "You should be able to maximize the full extent of your powers here, right?"

"Oh yeah." Crimson Kingbolt said eagerly. He turned around to face his students, who were standing in the rear. "Listen up! Dig through the rubble for any metal object you can find, bring it to this intersection and pile it all here."

"Aw! But we wanna fight too!" Dolphin began to protest before Merrow covered her mouth.

"Understood, Master!" Merrow answered. "We'll gather as much scrap metal as we can. Leave it to us!" She grabbed her guardian by her arm and quickly led her away to fulfill their task.

"Go all out! The amount of metal you can collect will decide the battle! Here we go!"

As for Graphite Edge and Black Lotus, they both got into fighting stances. Suddenly, as if finally noticing it, Crimson Kingbolt noticed something different about the Black King.

"Hey, Lotus, where did you get that silver crystal on your chest?"

It took all of Lotus's willpower to not smack herself with the flat of her right arm-blade. "Really, Crikin? You're asking me that now?!" she snapped.

Crikin quickly raised his hands in defense. "Sorry, I just noticed it. You can tell me later after we win."

"Like that's gonna happen," Sulfur Pot declared before snapping his reins. "Kill them all, Nick!"

The dinosaur-shaped Enemy's eyes gleamed a dull red before opening its maw wide, revealing its sinister teeth.

"Graaaaar!" After releasing its powerful roar, the massive, twenty-meter-long flightless dragon began charging fiercely.

**Meanwhile**

"Roaring Thunder!" Marth shouted fiercely as he swung his empty right fist at Serra, who was standing a few meters away from him, launching a beam of purple lightning at her.

Serra immediately raised her shield to block the spell but soon regretted it as even though she succeeded in stopping it, she underestimated its impact and was sent flying into a large shipping crate, shattering it instantly.

"Lucky shot," Serra cursed. She forced herself to stand up, ignoring her body's protests as it screamed in pain. Her clothing was damaged from all over, save for her hood and mask, and her body was covered with injuries.

"Give it up, Serra!" Asuna exclaimed. "There's no way you can defeat us. Put down your weapons and yield."

"Never," Serra said bitterly. "I won't stop fighting until I kill Marth with my own hands. He has to pay for what he did!"

"I know. You made that perfectly clear already," Marth said, getting somewhat annoyed. "Why don't you take off that mask so we can see your face."

"I don't think so. If you want to see my face, then you're gonna have to pry this mask off yourself."

"Fine by me," Marth said as he summoned an aura of purple electricity around him, signaling that he was readying another lightning spell.

Serra began charging at the occupied swordsman, only for Asuna to intercept her, their weapons clashing loudly.

"I can't believe you chose to side with that murderer," Serra said in anger. "Don't you realize he'll be the death of you, Asuna?"

"That won't happen!" Asuna said fiercely. "Marth's my friend. I'll always support him, no matter what happens."

Serra looked a little disappointed and said, "What a pity. I didn't want to kill you, Asuna, but if that's your decision, then I won't object."

Suddenly Serra felt a sharp pain in her gut. She looked down and saw that Asuna had delivered a swift punch to her stomach. The feint had knocked Serra off-balance, allowing Asuna to sidestep away as Marth had finished charging his spell.

"Heavenward Tempest!" Marth bellowed as he swung Lunara in a horizontal arc, sending a wave of purple lightning at Serra.

Serra tried to block the attack, but all her injuries, along with Asuna's feint, made her movements too slow to act. The spell ended up striking her chest, badly damaging her armor. Serra then collapsed to her knees, using her hands to keep her upper body from hitting the ground.

"No," Serra said hastily. "Not yet. I can't lose now."

Both Marth and Asuna sheathed their swords.

"This battle's over," Asuna declared. "Now it's time to see what's behind that mask of yours and get some answers."

The duo began approaching the fallen mace-wielder when suddenly a red magic circle appeared in front of her.

"What the?" Marth said in surprise as he grabbed Asuna by her waist, who let out a yelp, and instinctively jumped away.

From the magic circle, a man appeared from the center. He had long red hair that went down to his waist and silver eyes. He wore a silver coat with gold trimming, black pants and gloves, and silver boots. He also had a black cloak and a sword strapped to his waist. He looked to be around twenty-five years old.

"Arcanos," Serra said quietly. "What are you doing here?"

"From the looks of things, saving you," Arcanos replied matter-of-factly. "Your training is still incomplete. It would be a shame if you died before you were truly ready."

"But Marth's right there! This is my chance to kill him!"

Arcanos ignored his ally's protests before propping her on his shoulder. He then turned to face the Spriggan and the Lightning Flash.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Marth and Asuna," Arcanos said in a smug tone. "I'm Arcanos, and I believe it's time my comrade and I get going."

"Not a chance!" Marth exclaimed before charging at the new arrival.

Arcanos maintained his smug look before he teleported on top of a crate behind Asuna.

"If you want to stop me, come get me!" the red-head goaded. He then began sprinting towards the exit, with Serra struggling to break free from his iron grip. To shut her up, he also put a sleep spell on her.

"Get back here!" Marth shouted as he took off in hot pursuit.

"Marth, wait!" Asuna exclaimed in warning. "It could be another trap!"

Unfortunately, the Spriggan didn't listen and continued after the escaping Arcanos. Asuna had no choice but to follow after her friend.

Marth followed Arcanos between multiple storage buildings, somehow managing to keep up.

_"Where the hell does he think he's going?"_ Marth asked himself.

Eventually Arcanos ran to the end of a dock before turning around to face his pursuer, who stopped just in front of him.

"Who the hell are you people?" Marth questioned in anger. "What do you want?"

"Simple. My comrades and I wish to locate our master, Lord Zarc, and bring this world to its knees," Arcanos explained. "Your world was lucky thirty years ago during the Demon War. But we've learned from our mistakes. The war that's coming will make the last one look like a game."

"What are you talking about?"

Arcanos simply chuckled to himself. "If you want answers, then go to the ruins outside of town, tonight. If you survive, then I'll happily tell you all you want to know."

Marth fell silent as Arcanos teleported away.

"Marth!"

The Spriggan turned and saw Asuna sprinting over to him before she stopped right in front of him. When she came to a halt, she leaned over as she struggled to catch her breath.

"I…finally…caught up…with you," Asuna wheezed. "Where's…Arcanos?"

Marth glanced over his shoulder and watched the waves roll by. "He got away."

"Did you get any answers before he left?"

The Spriggan spent the next few moments thinking of what to say. "Nothing besides them wanting to find Zarc and start another war," Marth replied. "I don't know how they plan to do either."

"Well at least it's something," Asuna said slowly as she stood up straight. "Let's get back to the hotel. Kirito and Kuroba need to hear this."

Asuna began to walk off, her clothing returning to normal, but Marth remained where he was.

_"I can't tell the others about the ruins,"_ Marth thought to himself. _"I've put them all in enough danger already. I have to do this…alone."_

"Marth, are you coming?" Asuna cried out.

Marth snapped out of his thoughts before reverting to his regular form. "Yeah, I'm coming." He then hurried after the chestnut-haired girl.

**Meanwhile**

"Here we go," the Black King muttered to her partner. "Let's do this, Kirito."

"I'm right behind you."

Lotus knew both she and Edge's avatars were specialized in attacking, with neither of them having decent defense. If the dinosaur crashed into them, there was no doubt that they wouldn't survive. Granted she knew about Edge's wolf form, which _did_ give him a tremendous boost in physical defense, it does prevent him from using most of his special moves. And since Graphite Edge hadn't changed into his wolf form yet, it looked like he wanted to stick with his human form. So instead of charging at the Enemy like an idiot, Lotus would dodge at the last second and slash at Nidhogg's snout. The dinosaur's charge may be powerful, but its speed was no different from a Beast-class.

Unfortunately for Black Lotus, Crikin would end up messing up her timing, rather than the enemy.

"Chew on this, you bastard!" Kingbolt shouted. "Tapping Screw!"

The red avatar shot out a barrage of red screws from his fingers, which just like his torso, were covered in a side-winding, fine zigzag fingers with screw threads carved into them. The projectile screws flew like bullets, with each of them hitting the beast's neck.

Lotus was impressed by Kingbolt's aim and his wariness. She assumed that he was just getting drunk at the bar, but he had charged up his special gauge immediately after diving.

However, the screws tried to dig into Nidhogg's neck, but its scales were too thick, causing them all to fall to the ground, leaving only tiny indents behind.

"Wh-what the?" By the time Kingbolt said this, the dinosaur was already in front of them, costing Lotus her chance to launch a counterattack.

Suddenly the beast howled in pain before it began losing its momentum, allowing Lotus to grab Kingbolt and move out of the way. As Nidhogg moved right passed her, she noticed a gash on its front left leg. She then saw a familiar black-armored figure retreating from the Enemy.

Graphite Edge had the same idea as his Legion Master, but unlike her, he didn't wait until the last minute and started moving right away, so when Kingbolt used his special move, it didn't throw off his timing so he could counterattack just fine.

Nidhogg ended up crashing into a nearby building, but the action didn't seem to faze it. Luckily in the Unlimited Neutral Field, shops were indestructible, but from the looks of things, the bar will probably be the only building that will be standing after this fight.

"Thanks Kirito," Black Lotus said sincerely.

"You're welcome," Graphite Edge replied.

Lotus then glanced over at Crimson Kingbolt, who was right behind her. "Are you nuts?! A few flying screws isn't going to stop a heavily armored enemy like that!"

Kingbolt scratched his head sheepishly. "Cut me some slack here, Lotus. It's been three years since I've had to fight in a real battle."

"Then sit still and be quiet!" Lotus ordered. "Once Ruka and Mana get enough steel, I'll let you take the spotlight."

The Black King checked on female Burst Linkers and saw that they were racing around, collecting any metal they could find from the north side that Nidhogg had destroyed earlier. Luckily the Weathered stage was half-rotting concrete and half-rusted steel framing. A Factory or Steel stage would have been preferable, since they had tons of metal on the ground and in building, but it was better than getting a stage that didn't have any metal.

Graphite Edge appeared by Lotus's side as the massive beast finished changing its orientation. Because of its massive size, its turning speed was very slow.

"We need to find this thing's weak point," Edge said. "I'd like to say to attack its rear, but…"

"But it has that long spiky tail that is way too suspicious," Lotus finished. "We'll just have to counterattack it little by little while avoiding those heavy charges. How long until your special gauge will be fully charged?"

"Too long," Graphite Edge said grimly. "Luckily I can use most of my sword skills without needing it, but most of my Dual Wielding skills require my special gauge."

"I was afraid of that. We'll just have to make do and build up our special gauges by counterattacking."

As Nidhogg prepared to charge again, Sulfur Pot shouted with plenty of swagger, "Don't hold back. Use whatever special moves you want, Black King, Graphite Edge. According to our data, both of you can only use short-ranged attacks. This will certainly be interesting."

_"Our?"_ Lotus questioned before she banished the thought. She could think about it after they won this fight.

Unfortunately, what Sulfur said was true, at least for her. All the special attacks Black Lotus had learned were basically for close-range fighting, even the sword skills she learned from Marth. Even her Death By Piercing and Vorpal Strike had a max range of five meters. And at that range, even if she did manage to deal some damage to the beast, it would attack her while she was frozen from using either technique.

However, there was also _that_ option. A secret function that was hidden in the Accelerated World. Something that she hadn't told any of ex-Alfheim Warriors about, not even Marth. However, she had seen the Dark Swordsman unknowingly tap into this function during the battle with the fifth Chrome Disaster. He had used it to change his Duel Avatar into his SAO avatar, which was arguably Marth's true form, and when he delivered the final attack of Starburst Stream on Chrome Disaster.

As much as it pained her to keep this function a secret from boy she loved, and his friends, it was for their own safety. There was one absolute law about this hidden function, to never use it unless you were first attacked with it. It had nothing to do with cowardice or idealism, it was for their own protection. If a Burst Linker broke this rule, the promise between yourself and your friends, and attacked with this function first, the user's mind would fall to the dark side of this function, no exceptions.

Lotus didn't know how Marth managed to use this function and do so unscathed, though she suspected that it was because he had done it unconsciously and because of what his Dark Swordsman persona represents. Survival. However, it's possible that there is a third reason. According to the book on the Alfheim Warriors, both Marth and Kirito have achieved impossible things during their time in both SAO and ALO. For Sword Art Online, they were both killed when they fought against Heathcliff and Zelgius, but somehow they managed to delay their avatar bodies from shattering, allowing them to kill the GMs, clearing the death game. As for ALO, during their fight with Sugou, who was holding 300 SAO players hostage, including Asuna and Yuuki, both Marth and Kirito were incapacitated as Sugou tried to brainwash them, but not only did Marth and Kirito resist the brainwashing, they also rose to their feet and kept fighting.

Of course there's no way that Brain Burst's hidden function had existed in both SAO and ALO, however, it's possible that Marth and Kirito's willpower was so strong, they actually managed to achieve a proto version of this function. A simple exploit created through sheer willpower. Maybe it was because of those experiences that Marth didn't fall to the dark side of the function.

Or she could just be overthinking this. Regardless, she hoped that Marth would never learn of that function. She didn't want to see it corrupt him as she had seen happen to other Burst Linkers. It would be like her heart was cut in two.

Graphite Edge simply smirked and said, "Are you sure I can only use close-range attacks?"

"Huh?" Sulfur Pot, who was confident just moments ago, appeared very confused.

Suddenly a dark aura flared around the metal-type, surprising everyone.

"Kirito?" Lotus asked in concern.

From what she gathered, Kirito didn't know about Brain Burst's hidden function either, which meant that whatever he was doing, it wasn't that function.

"Shadow Barrage!" Graphite Edge shouted as he swung his right arm in an arc, firing several orbed projectiles made of darkness at the Legend-class monster. The projectiles struck Nidhogg's head and did manage to damage its armor, more so than Crikin's attack.

"Whoa," Crimson Kingbolt said in awe.

Lotus simply smiled at the sight. She had forgotten that Kirito had practiced dark magic in ALO and even used some of its spells during the Demon War. He just prefers to use his swords more often. Shadow Barrage was one of the weaker dark magic spells, as such, Edge didn't need to use his special meter to cast it.

"Why you?!" Sulfur Pot exclaimed in anger.

"Nice job, Kirito," Black Lotus said. "Now it's my turn."

Lotus folded her arm-blades in front of her body as she adjusted her position ever so slightly, making the large building be directly behind her. She wasn't using that hidden function, but something else entirely.

She focused her mind and shouted, "Overdrive! Mode Green!" Suddenly her armor's partition lines that ran across her body began emitting a vivid green light. Her Core Crystal was also glowing.

The "overdrive" command was also not a technique or ability prescribed by the system, but it wasn't part of Brain Burst's hidden function either. This was actually something Lotus did tell Marth about. In fact, it was one of the first things she told him about. However, she still hadn't taught him how to use the command, though that was mostly because they were focused on her training.

How the command worked was that it was a positive autosuggestion, following the same logic as Zero Fill, the phenomenon of an empty image run wild. It was basically a battle cry, but Kuroba had added a little trick to it. Since her avatar possessed no color affiliation, she could adopt the properties of different colors. However, she only had three modes, mostly because of the combat limitations of her Duel Avatar. Mode Red pushed her avatar's performance diagram toward the long range, Mode Blue improved her close-range, and Mode Green changed her avatar to a defensive type.

"Cool," Graphite Edge commented. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

"Unfortunately, no," Black Lotus said. "This is a technique exclusive to Black-type avatars. Sorry."

Meanwhile, Sulfur Pot just laughed. "Ha-ha-ha! Whatever little tricks you have won't work on him. Show them, Nick!"

Lotus stared silently at Nidhogg's snout as it charged at her. This time, Crikin dropped obediently into an evasive posture while Graphite Edge jumped away. But the dragon didn't alter its path to target either of them. It was after the Black King instead.

She gritted her teeth and pulled the fierce charge in. If she mistimed it and got hit, it would take away more than half her health gauge. _"Not yet…Not yet…Now!"_

"Sheeah!" Black Lotus leaped diagonally to the left and forward before swinging her right leg-blade in something like a roundhouse kick.

The tip of her blade ended up colliding with one of the massive teeth in Nidhogg's mouth. She felt a little stress in her leg from the knee to hip, but thanks to the autosuggestion of Mode Green and the durability boost she got from resonating with Marth, she didn't have to worry about her leg-blade breaking.

Lotus's leg-blade came around to the front, and Nidhogg slammed past her on the right, crashing into the building behind her. She could see the severed tooth of the dinosaur soar through the air and that the three-tiered gauge of the Enemy displayed in the top of her field of view decreased a little.

For the next three minutes, the battle progressed like this. Black Lotus would hold Nidhogg's attention and dodge at the very last second while also dealing a minuscule amount of damage, while Graphite Edge attacked the dinosaur's flanks with either his swords or his flanks. The Black King also made sure that Nidhogg would crash into buildings, allowing Merrow and Dolphin to gather the metal they need for their master. However, Lotus couldn't escape unharmed every time. Whether it was teeth or scale, whenever she got hit, Lotus's health gauge would drop by a chunk. If this kept up, the first to have their health gauge exhausted would be Black Lotus.

Sulfur Pot must have known this because he kept using his charging strategy. He may be cocky, but he knew that he was not only facing a king, but the legendary Black Swordsman. If he got off his mount to use one of his special moves, he'd be cut down by either Lotus or Edge.

Meanwhile, Coral Merrow and Lagoon Dolphin succeeded in gathering a huge pile of metal.

"Crikin! Now!" Black Lotus ordered.

The crimson avatar nodded quickly. "I was getting tired of waiting," he said before running to his students.

"Kirito, fall back to me!" the Black King exclaimed.

"Roger that," Graphite Edge replied before making his way to his Legion Master. The duo then began their slow retreat.

"What? You guys are running away?" Sulfur Pot questioned in his bright voice. "Well that's no fun. Nick's special-attack gauge is finally at full charge."

Both Nega Nebulus members took a sharp breath.

"You've got to be kidding me," Graphite Edge cursed. "That Enemy has a special-move gauge?!"

"You didn't know, Black Swordsman?" Sulfur Pot said mockingly. "High-level Enemies that have been tamed come with their own special-move gauge. And now his is fully charged."

Sulfur Pot raised the silver rains high before yanking them fiercely down. "Do it, Nick!" he shouted as loud as he could. "Scorching Inferno!"

Nidhogg opened its mouth wide, where a flickering orange light could be seen. At the same time, the stench of sulfur filled the air, the smell of flammable gas.

"Look out!" Graphite Edge shouted as he jumped right in front Black Lotus.

"Kirito!" the Black King cried out in disbelief.

Suddenly Graphite Edge's appearance changed. His helmet disappeared and his armor was replaced by a blackwyrm coat. He gained black fingerless gloves and pants, along with black leather boots. His swords also changed into Elucidator and Dark Repulser respectively. Also, his hair was a bit longer, with his bangs nearly over his eyes.

_"It can't be,"_ Black Lotus said in disbelief. Graphite Edge had just transformed into Kirito, the Black Swordsman.

Neither Sulfur Pot or his beast seemed deterred by Kirito's sudden transformation, in fact the latter unleashing its breath attack.

However, Kirito was ready. He thrust Elucidator forward, as if he was planning to intercept the flames, but instead the black sword traced an unexpected path. Faster than the eye could follow, Elucidator began spinning like a windmill around the axle of his glowing fingers. But the speed of rotation was abnormal, with the sword moving fast enough to be a blur, almost like a translucent shield.

Lotus knew exactly what skill Kirito was using. The one-handed sword defense skill, Spinning Shield. While Marth did teach her the skill, it was practically unusable with her Duel Avatar since her blades can't detach. However, Kirito could use it just fine.

The flames struck the makeshift shield and split in different directions, but barely a spark managed to reach the duo.

"Impossible!" Sulfur Pot shouted in outrage. "You both should be burned to cinders!"

"Don't…ever…underestimate…me…and…my friends!" Kirito bellowed as Elucidator spun even faster, his eyes turning yellow.

Eventually the flames died off, allowing Kirito to end his skill. He turned around to his partner and said, "Are you okay?"

Lotus was simply stunned at what she saw, including watching Kirito's eyes turn from yellow to their usual black. "Y-yeah. Thanks."

Kirito simply smiled. "That's good…"

"Lotus! Edge! Over here!"

The duo turned and saw Crimson Kingbolt stood on top of a huge scrap pile with his arms crossed and in an imposing stance. At the foot of the pile were Lagoon Dolphin and Coral Merrow, who were both exhausted.

"That's a lot of metal," Kirito muttered. He then noticed Nidhogg readying another breath attack and shouted, "Move! Move! Move!"

The Black Swordsman and the Black King ran as fast as they could to avoid the fire breath. Meanwhile, Crikin bent his short knees and jumped straight up in the air, to an almost impossible height.

"All right, you metals!" he exclaimed. "It's time to combine! Mega-Machine Awakening!"

Kingbolt's body became shrouded in a red light effect as his body transformed into a red screw. Everyone watched as the screw began rotating clockwise at high-speed.

"Um, what's he doing?" Kirito asked nervously.

Black Lotus simply smirked. "Just watch and see."

The screw then dropped downward and plunged halfway down the mountain of scrap metal. Sparks went flying through the air as the screw went deeper and disappeared.

"Listen, lug nut, whatever you're doing is pointless," Sulfur Pot declared. "I'm about to turn you, the Black King, and the Black Swordsman into a pile of ash! Huh?"

Suddenly the mountain of scrap metal ignited with crimson light. Every piece of metal started to lift off of the ground and began to join together, as if they were parts planned for this and produced an enormous object.

First there were two thick legs, followed by hips to connect them. A cylindrical stomach and a boxy chest. Long, sturdy arms connected to shoulders on the right and left. And finally a head that closely resembled Kingbolt original was produced.

"Wow," Kirito said in awe. "Kingbolt just became a giant robot."

The towering mech was about eight meters tall. It raised its hands farther and struck a pose.

"It's huge!" Dolphin exclaimed.

"I don't believe it!" Merrow added. "Our master's a giant!"

The robot and the Enemy simply stared at each other before they both got into fighting stances, both ready to bring this battle to its end.

**To be continued**

* * *

**Wow, this might be my longest chapter ever. Sorry if the ending was a little abrupt. I was hoping to have the full battle with Sulfur Pot in this chapter, but with how long this chapter is, I decided to put the rest of it in the next chapter. Anyway, now Marth and the others know that there are humans working with Zarc's minions. That's certainly not good. And I put in a little tease about the Incarnate System. Originally Marth and the other ex-Alfheim Warriors changing their avatars in Brain Burst was going to be an ability, but I've decided that it might be better as an Incarnate ability, since they have to picture their avatars in their minds in order to switch to them. Anyway, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**


	18. Sulfur Pot's Last Stand

**Just to let my earlier readers know, from now on, whenever Marth taps into the Incarnate System for certain instances, his eyes will become yellow just like Kirito's. Originally his eyes would become silver but I have decided that silver eyes will indicate him tapping into a different type of power instead. What that power is though, you'll just have to wait and see.**

* * *

**April 14th, 2057**

Kirito began recapping battle with Sulfur Pot and Nidhogg in his head, trying to make sense of everything. Black Lotus held the dinosaur's attention, having it crash into buildings so Merrow and Dolphin could gather scrap metal for their master while also inflicting minimal counterattack damage on it. Kirito, on the other hand, attacked Nidhogg's sides, his swords biting into its armor. Kingbolt just stayed out of the way once Lotus scolded him for recklessly attacking the heavily armored dinosaur.

The Black Swordsman didn't know how Crimson Kingbolt would make much of a difference after Merrow and Dolphin collected enough metal, but he chose to trust in his Legion Master. But when Sulfur Pot revealed that his tamed Enemy had a special-move gauge that was fully charged, that's when Kirito panicked. Nidhogg was difficult enough with just trying to attack it without getting trampled, but now they had to worry about it using special moves on them.

Somehow Kirito knew that Sulfur would have his mount attack Black Lotus first, mostly because she had lost a lot of her HP already. He couldn't let Lotus die, not only because it would take her an hour to respawn, but she was also his friend. While Marth had handled most of Kuroba's training, Kirito had occasionally supervised and even helped with demonstrating certain sword skills. In fact, Kirito did find himself growing more attached to the Black King, despite knowing next to nothing about her.

**Flashback- March 6th, 2057**

Kazuto was in a park in Tokyo with Kuroba and Marth (who was in his ALO form). The Spriggan hadn't gotten much sleep the night before so Kazuto offered to handle Kuroba's training for the day so Marth could get some much-needed shut eye. However, Marth still needed to be present since both Lunara and Solaris were bound to him and refused to be taken a certain distance away from him.

_"Those swords are really mysterious,"_ Kazuto mused to himself. _"They're not made of metal, yet they reflect light like any other metal object. Just what are they?"_

Asuna and the others were busy with other stuff, either in the real world or the Accelerated World, so they couldn't make it. Speaking of Asuna, she was trying to track down Lisbeth since the pink-haired blacksmith also disappeared after the Demon War, but she hasn't been able to find a single trace of her friend. It was obvious that the Argent Flash player was worried, despite how much she had tried to hide it. Kazuto knew that he should be helping his girlfriend, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He vividly remembered how bitter and angry Lisbeth was to Marth, his best friend, with her going so far as to blame the Dark Swordsman for the death of Celina, Lisbeth's blacksmithing partner and best friend, in the aftermath of the Demon War.

The Graphite Edge player had implanted Light Repulser bladed end planted into the ground while he held the end of its hilt in his right hand. He just stood there and watched Kuroba perform several one-handed sword skills with Lunara, executing them all to near perfection, providing criticism when necessary. The Black King has really been soaking up the lessons she's been receiving from the legendary Darkness Duo. It won't be long until she will be ready to learn Dual Wielding.

For some strange reason Kazuto could wield the crystalline sword normally in his regular form, which should be impossible since it, like his beloved Elucidator from Aincrad, had an exaggerated weight, which would make it impossible for a normal teenager to pick up, much less swing around. And yet, the sword felt just right in Kazuto's hands, like it was an old friend. It reminded him of its twin, Dark Repulser, the sword that he used in SAO when he dual wielded.

He had talked to Marth about this, but even the Aegis was clueless because he didn't alter the crystalline sword's weight at all when he first handed the sword to his partner months ago. However, Kazuto did have a theory. Ever since the Cyan Demon incident, Kazuto has been sensing a mysterious connection between him and Marth, and to an extent, Kuroba. It could be possible that the connection might be the resonance between Kazuto and Marth, which the former had thought was severed completely after Marth saw Yuuki's corpse and accidently sent himself twenty years into the future. But with this new information, maybe Kazuto and Marth's resonance isn't completely gone. Kazuto knew he had to test this before he mentioned it to his friends.

"Hey Kuroba," Kazuto spoke up. "Can you come over here real quick?"

Kuroba paused from what she was doing and went over to the black-eyed teen. "What is it?"

Kazuto found himself hesitating for a few moments. He knew what he was about to do was most likely going to hurt a lot, it might even kill him if he wasn't careful, but he had to try. He needed to be sure.

"This might sound crazy, but can you hand me Lunara for a second?"

The Black King's eyes widened in shock. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Kuroba questioned. "From what you guys told me, Lunara and Solaris don't like being held by anyone other than Marth. The only reason I can wield them is because I'm Marth's Driver."

"Well I was his first Driver," Kazuto reasoned. "I need to do this. I have to be sure."

Kuroba raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Sure, about what?" Kazuto didn't answer and simply stared at her, his eyes full of determination. Reluctantly, she sighed. "Alright. Just don't get yourself killed. Marth would never forgive me if something happened to you."

Kazuto simply smiled. "Thanks, Kuroba."

The Black King held out the Blade of Shadows to the former Alfheim Warrior with one hand underneath the flat end of the blade and the other on the sword's handle. From what they had learned previously is that it was relatively safe to hold Lunara and Solaris by their blades or in their scabbards. Its when you hold the swords by their handles that sets them off.

Kazuto found himself hesitating yet again before reaching out and taking Lunara from the Aegis Driver, his right hand gripping its handle. However, as soon as Kuroba let go, Kazuto's body flared with pain.

"Gah!" he bellowed. It felt like molten lava was being poured on his bones. His body screamed for him to let go, but Kazuto maintained his grip.

"Kazuto!" he heard Kuroba shout in worry, but he quickly shut her and the rest of the world out. Instead, he only focused on holding Lunara. He placed his left hand on what remained on the handle to increase his grip, but it only made the pain intensify. It was as if the sword itself was trying to force him to let go.

A roar could be heard in his head. It was fierce and chilled him straight to the bone. Suddenly Kazuto could see a brief vision of Lunara and Solaris, which were radiating shadows and light respectively. He watched them slowly hover to each other before merging into one sword. The new weapon was black with golden edges on the blade, which was a little bit longer and wider. It had the same wing-like crossguard, only slightly bigger to match the wider blade. The handle was longer, hinting that the fused sword was meant to be wielded with two hands. And finally, there was a diamond-shaped white gemstone in the middle of the crossguard that seemed to be shining. The sword gave off a purple aura that looked to be the form of a dragon before Kazuto heard the roar again.

"What?" was all he could say before his vision went dark.

The next thing he knew, he was lying on the grass flat on his back. Kuroba was sitting beside him, her eyes filled with relief. Lunara, on the other hand, was lying beside Light Repulser. Surprisingly, Marth was still asleep under the tree, though it did show how tired he must have been.

Kazuto's head felt like it was throbbing, and his right arm was completely numb.

"What happened?" he asked as he sat up, his voice sounding weak.

"I-I don't know," Kuroba replied as she tried to stay calm. "You muttered something about a sword and then you blacked out. Are you okay?"

Kazuto held his forehead in his left hand and said, "I think so. But my head is killing me. How long was I out for?"

"Just a few minutes or so." Kuroba promptly slapped him hard in the shoulder. "You idiot! Why would you do something so reckless?! Anyone with reason would've let go of Lunara after just one second! What were you trying to prove?!"

Feeling was beginning to return to Kazuto's right arm while pain stung his left. He knew that Kuroba was worried about him and needed to understand why he did it.

"For the past few months, I've been feeling a strange connection between me and Marth, and to an extent, you," Kazuto explained. "It's very faint, but I think it might be remnants of my resonance with Marth. I needed to see what would happen if I held Lunara again, and it seems like this connection isn't strong enough for me to wield it."

"Idiot," Kuroba scolded. "Why didn't you mention this before? Marth and I could've helped you."

"Sorry. I didn't want to interrupt your training. You need it more than me solving this mystery. Anyway, right before I blacked out, I saw something strange."

"What was it?" Kuroba was genuinely curious.

Kazuto explained the vision he saw of Lunara and Solaris merging into one sword. As he did so, he thought he heard echoes of the dragon's roar in his ears. When he was done, Kuroba folded her arms as she processed the information.

"Lunara and Solaris merged? I don't remember Marth mentioning that they could do that."

"Because they can't, or at least, we all thought so," Kazuto explained. "Like I said, it was strange. I only saw it for a second, but that sword seemed really powerful. I just wish I knew what it was."

Kuroba was silent for a moment before eyeing Lunara behind her. "Well I don't recommend trying to wield Lunara again. It's pretty clear that it doesn't want you using it. We should tell Marth about it when he wakes up and go from there. They're his swords after all."

Kazuto cracked a light smile. "You got it." He quickly stood up and rolled his right shoulder around. "My arm feels better already. You up for a quick spar, Kuroba?"

The Black King returned the gesture. "You're on!"

**Present Day**

Kirito then remembered his body flinging itself in front of Black Lotus and managed to block Nidhogg's breath attack by using Spinning Shield, a move that he had used frequently back in Aincrad. It wouldn't be until Crimson Kingbolt changed into a giant robot that Kirito realized that he had changed into his SAO avatar as he noticed his bangs were slightly in the way of his eyes.

_"How did this happen?"_ Kirito asked himself. _"Actually, that's not important right now. I need make sure Kuroba and I survive this. I may not like it but using my Black Swordsman persona might be the best choice for now."_

Sulfur Pot, however, gritted his teeth. "Do it, Nick!" he ordered. "Incinerate that ridiculous pile junk!"

The Enemy obeyed its master and readied another breath attack. Suddenly the robot's eyes flashed and jumped, causing the very ground to shake. He passed over Lotus and Kirito, who were running the other way, and landed directly in front of Nidhogg. However, the moment he landed, Kingbolt was hit by the dinosaur's fire breath.

The collision of the fiery torrent and the robot's massive body went on for what felt like several minutes, when in reality it was only thirty seconds, with Nidhogg increasing the strength of its breath attack as ordered by its master.

_"That thing's special-move gauge must be huge if it can make its special move last this long,"_ Kirito commented. He then noticed that the dinosaur's teeth were bright red, likely from being exposed to the flames for so long, which seemed to be bothering it.

What infuriated the Black Swordsman was that Sulfur showed no signs of ordering the dinosaur to stop the attack. It made it very clear that Sulfur saw Nidhogg as nothing more than a tool to be used rather than a living thing. Kirito couldn't help but feel sorry for the dinosaur as he saw its health gauge barely decrease.

After a few seconds, Nidhogg's seemingly infinite special-move gauge was finally exhausted. The breath attack began weakening until it stopped, melting into the atmosphere.

Kingbolt's mech soon became visible, revealing that it was crouching with its arms crossed. While it hadn't been burned away, its entire body was blackened, and a part of it had melted and now hung down like icicles.

"Uh, is he okay?" Kirito questioned nervously, hearing both Dolphin and Merrow crying out to their master in worry.

"He's fine," Black Lotus answered. "Crikin won't be killed by something like that."

As if Kingbolt had heard her, his eyes flashed yellow. His massive, slightly charred up, body began to move, making creaking sounds as it did so. Kingbolt stretched his arms in front of his body, extending all of his fingers, and aimed them straight at Nidhogg.

Suddenly ten firing lines shot out of the mech's fingers, with shell cases being ejected out of his wrists and falling to the ground. Countless sparks bounced off the area from the face to the shoulders of the giant dinosaur, forcing it to retreat, albeit slowly.

"Wh-what the hell?!" Sulfur Pot cried out in surprise.

"Fire!" Crimson Kingbolt shouted as he deployed the armor from both his shoulders, firing the machine guns of his fingers, and launched three rows of missiles that appeared from within all at once. The armor on his chest then opened up before launching its own barrage of missiles at the Enemy.

The other Burst Linkers watched as Nidhogg's health gauge began to visibly decrease. Kirito also noticed Kingbolt's fighting style reminded him of a certain King.

"Wow," Coral Merrow said in awe. "Master's amazing!"

"Before the current Red King came along, your master had the greatest long-range firepower in the history of the Accelerated World," Lotus explained. "Any group battles he was in inevitably ended up a matter of how big a pile of metal objects he collected or whether the collection could be interfered with. But when he's in his giant robot form, that's checkmate."

"So that's why he said that this was a good opportunity," Kirito commented. "By drawing the enemy into the town, he could find enough metal objects he needed to use his abilities. That's pretty cool."

The robot's barrage continued for about fifteen seconds, halving Nidhogg's total health gauge. If the dinosaur had been wild, chances are it would've fled or counterattacked by now, instead of just standing there and taking all the gunfire. However, since it was tamed by an item, it was unable to even move without the order of its master. Because of that, Nidhogg ended up being severely wounded.

Sulfur Pot didn't escape the barrage either. His armor had multiple dents and soot stains from all the missiles that Kingbolt had fired. All of his swagger from earlier was replaced by anger as a vengeful light glittered in his goggle-shaped eye lenses.

He said in a low voice, "No one is allowed to damage Nick like this!"

Sulfur Pot was telling the truth. Kirito noticed that most of Nidhogg's scales were either damaged or broken, plus its wounds were dripping with purple blood. The Black Swordsman guessed that if it was hit by the same barrage again, it would probably take out the rest of its health.

"Kirito, the two of us need to distract them," Black Lotus ordered. "We need to buy time for Crikin's weapons to recharge. Once he's done, that dinosaur is finished."

The dual wielder nodded in acknowledgement. "Okay. Let's go."

The duo were about to advance, when suddenly Sulfur Pot yanked on the reins and shouted, "Nick! One more time!"

Nidhogg slowly lifted its head and began opening its damaged mouth.

"Is he trying to use the flame breath again?!" Dolphin yelped.

Lotus and Kirito stopped moving as they eyed the Enemy's master in suspicion.

"What is he thinking?" Black Lotus questioned. "He already knows that fire won't work on Crikin's robot form. All it'll do is give Crikin time to recharge his weapons."

Crimson Kingbolt must have had the same thought as he lowered his stance and took on a guard position with his arms crossed in front.

Right as Nidhogg was about unleash its flames, Sulfur Pot thrust both of his hands forward and shouted, "Charcoal Smoke!"

Clouds of inky black smoke shot out of the holes in the yellow avatar's hands and immediately enveloped the giant robot. Kirito and Black Lotus, who were nearby, instinctively jumped backward, as soon as the haze began making its way to them. What was strange though was that neither of their health gauges went down at all nor did they feel any debuffs on them. Kirito assumed that it must be just an ordinary smokescreen, but his instincts were screaming for him to run.

"Oh no," Black Lotus said quietly as she smelled a peculiar odor in the air. It was the smell of sulfur. "Crikin, get out of there! That's not smoke! That's gunpowder!"

"Scorching Inferno!" Sulfur Pot shouted.

Once again, flames shot out of the dinosaur's mouth. The instant the flames contacted the black haze, it immediately ignited. The ground shook fiercely, sending Kirito, Lotus, Dolphin and Merrow flying backwards. Kirito was the first to recover and saw that some rocky debris was heading straight for Dolphin, who was too dazed to move. He quickly forced himself to stand and jumped to intercept before destroying the rocks with his swords.

"Thanks," Lagoon Dolphin said.

"You're welcome," Kirito replied.

Kirito looked over and checked on the female Burst Linkers. The explosion combined with the fall had taken some of their health away, with Lotus's in the yellow zone. Dolphin and Merrow had landed next to each other while the Black King had collapsed about a foot away from them. Kirito had lost about 30 percent of his health, but his gauge was still green because, unlike his Legion Master, he hadn't taken any hits during the early parts of the fight. Crimson Kingbolt, however, wasn't so lucky. The steel body of the robot was ripped to pieces and scattered before disappearing into the smoke.

Nidhogg's breath attack lasted for only two seconds. When the flames weakened, the wind from the stage blew the gray smoke away, revealing the remains of Kingbolt's robot form scattered across the charred field.

Lotus was unable to stand up because of the aftershock of the explosion, but she was impressed to see Kirito still standing. She watched as he sheathed his swords before hurrying over to her. The Black Swordsman put the upper part of her right arm around his neck and pulled her back up.

"Are you okay, Kuroba?" Kirito questioned.

"I'm alright," Black Lotus replied in a hoarse voice as she leaned into her friend while retracting her arm-blades into hands to avoid injuring him. "What about Crikin?"

Suddenly the duo heard the sound of something landing on the ground, at least a few meters to their left. It was a large red screw, Kingbolt, who was ejected from the center of the robot. His eyes blinked irregularly and didn't look like he would be moving anytime soon.

"Damn it," Lotus cursed under her breath. "Sulfur Pot's gunpowder move combined with Nidhogg's fire breath is dangerous combo. Just like that, he turned the tables on us."

"We need to retreat," Kirito said. "If Sulfur uses that combo again, we're finished."

"That might be our only option. If only we could contact Marth and Asuna. We could use their help right now."

Meanwhile, Sulfur Pot was laughing menacingly as he had the dinosaur slowly approach the downed group. "Heh-heh-heh-heh! I have to admit, I didn't think this fight would force me to reveal that little trick. I don't like to use it because I can't make it out scot-free either."

True to his word, both Sulfur and Nidhogg appeared from the smoke covered with wounds all over. Since this was the Unlimited Neutral Field, the Nega Nebulus members couldn't see Sulfur Pot's health gauge, but the second tier of Nidhogg's was empty.

"Do you all understand now? It was inevitable that I would be Nick's master. The two of us have become the ultimate partners, one heart, one mind."

"Hmph. I doubt that," Kirito muttered under his breath. He knew that his partnership with Marth was way stronger than whatever Sulfur and Nidhogg had. Kirito only wished that Marth was with him so that they could prove it.

It hurt for Black Lotus to even stand. She knew that the feeling of pain in the Unlimited Neutral Field was double that of the Normal Duel Field, but being slammed by the impact of that explosion made it feel like double that again. Eventually, Lotus was able to stand on her own without staggering.

"You don't what partnership is," the Black King said with a glare towards Sulfur Pot. "I think that dinosaur has something he'd like to tell you. Something like, 'If you're going to be my master, at least ride me better'."

"Heh-heh. You're a king, all right. You're a sore loser of the highest order. I'm looking forward to hearing you and the Black Swordsman begging for your lives. And just to let you know, Nick's special-attack gauge isn't quite empty yet."

Sulfur Pot yanked the reins, causing the dinosaur to roar as it opened its mouth.

"Not good," Kirito said hastily. "Even without gunpowder, if those flames hit us, we're dead. We might be able to escape by making a mad dash to the logout portal, but we'd be abandoning Kingbolt and the others."

Black Lotus gritted her teeth in frustration. "Damn it. Can't we do something to stop this?" Suddenly, she felt an inexplicable something and quickly looked up. The sky still had the reddish tint of the Weathered Stage, but Lotus could sense that something was accumulating high-density information and trying to overwrite the world. "Do you feel that, Kirito?"

The Black Swordsman nodded. "Yeah. Is it an enemy attack? Or is it backup?"

"It's all right, Kuroba, Kirito," a small voice rang out from behind.

The duo looked back and saw Coral Merrow, who had stood up at some point, was staring straight up into the sky. But something seemed off about her. The color of her eye lens also seemed slightly different. It was just like when she asked them for the extra cable right before they dived.

"She's coming," Merrow said, and loosely held her right hand up to the sky.

**Meanwhile**

Megumi, who had watched Kazuto, Kuroba, Ruka and Mana heading up to the dive space on the second floor of the resort hotel, from the shadow of a pillar in a corner of the elevator lobby, and started chasing them the second the four entered a booth.

The reception was automated online and set up so that users selected an empty spot from the booth layout displayed in their field of view, but Megumi had confirmed the position of the sole four-person booth and headed there without hesitation. Naturally, the door to the booth was locked, but she couldn't hear any voices inside, indicating that they were all in full dive. She touched the door, causing a dialog box to appear, requesting the input of the electronic key.

Megumi pressed the open button, which normally wouldn't work, but since Kuroba had used her room key to lock the booth, which she shared with Megumi, the door unlocked. The brunette slid open the door and stepped into the booth, where she saw three girls and one boy. Their bodies were totally relaxed, eyes closed, on the reclining sofas opposite each other.

She was surprised to see Kuroba sitting next to Kazuto. She always figured that the student vice-president didn't pay much attention to the best friend of the freak of Umesato High School. Ever since Kuroba invited Frank to the student lounge in September, Megumi would hardly see her. Whenever she wanted to hang out, Kuroba almost always said that she already had plans but that she'd make it up to her later, which didn't happen often.

One day, Megumi saw the student vice-president purely by chance sitting under a tree in the park. She wanted to call out to her friend, but stopped when she realized that Kuroba wasn't alone. Kuroba was with _him_ , the freak, and was having a normal conversation with him. In fact, she seemed… happy, with a genuine smile and everything.

Megumi then turned her attention to the two girls in the opposite booth. She knew that they weren't Umesato students because of their age and tans, so they were probably locals of Henoko. While the Kuroba she knew was sociable, the walls around her heart were thick and tall. She never let her guard down around people on first meeting, the only exception being Frank, which didn't make a lot of sense to Megumi. She had asked the black-haired girl about it, but Kuroba said that it was a secret.

But despite those walls, here Kuroba was diving with two strangers on a direct connector, albeit through a router. There was only one reason Megumi could think of for that: the other world, the one she had mentioned to Kuroba once. And it seems that Kazuto knew about it too.

The quartet were visiting a world that Megumi had never seen or even knew the name of. Kuroba must have visited it yesterday while they were getting souvenirs for each other. Her left hand trembled and pulled itself up, moving towards Kuroba's Neurolinker. The tips of her fingers touched the cable stretching out from the piano-black exterior shell and grabbed hold of it tightly.

_"If I pull this out, she'll come home to me,"_ Megumi thought. _"Hime might lose whatever she has with Frank, but she'll come back to this place where I can reach her."_

Unbeknownst to her, Kuroba's Core Crystal began flashing. Suddenly an image entered Megumi's mind. It was Frank, but he looked different. His back was facing her, and he was wearing a strange black overcoat, with black scabbards strapped to his back. She could see him holding a black sword and a gold sword in an x-shape right in front of him, as if he was defending himself from something.

The image's sudden appearance caused Megumi to let go in shock. _"Wh-what was that?"_

Kuroba's Core Crystal stopped glowing, as if it had fulfilled its duty.

_Don't do it!_

That voice came from inside her head. Megumi blinked with a gasp before she looked at the coffee table. There she saw an extra cable lying there.

_That cable is the doorway. If you put it on, it will take you to that other world for one last time._

The voice sounded childlike, but it was strangely commanding. Megumi picked up the extra cable and brought the plug to her own neck. Directly connecting with an unknown circuit was, in terms of security, a very risky thing to do. Megumi knew as much, but she didn't hesitate for even a second. She connected the plug to her floral pink Neurolinker, before connecting the other end to the table, causing the wired connection warning to pop up.

Megumi then saw the vision of a book appearing on the table in front of her. It wasn't a real book, like a physical object, but it was definitely there. She immediately recognized it. It was the book she loved so long ago. The book she had read over and over so many times, but she couldn't remember the story of it at all.

She gently picked up the book, which had no title on the cover, and opened it. On the first page, there were only two words. The code needed to go to that other world. Megumi took a deep breath before uttering out the phrase:

"Unlimited Burst."

**Meanwhile**

Kirito and Black Lotus stared intently at the sky of the Weathered Stage once more. But all they saw were scattered clouds flowing past one after the other.

"Uh, what are we looking for?" Kirito questioned. "Could it be Marth and Asuna?"

"I doubt it," Lotus replied. "Time moves faster for us in the Accelerated World. Their battle's probably nowhere near finished yet so it can't be them. So who the heck is Mana talking about?"

As if to answer her question, a cherry-pink light appeared in the sky and spiraled downward, almost like a flower petal fluttering in the breeze. The pink vortex immediately expanded in scale to fill Lotus's field of view with dancing flowers.

From the center of the vortex, two legs descended silently. High heels transparent like glass glinted in the light, followed by broad pale-pink armor skirt spreading out. The waist pulled in tightly, and a large ribbon adorned the back. The shoulders of the dress were round and puffed out, and slender arms carried a single scepter. The face mask was the height of elegance, while the long, clear silver hair parts fluttered in the breeze.

Black Lotus had never seen this Duel Avatar before. However, she couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity from her.

The female avatar slowly touched the ground in front of the Black King and said, "Hime, I'm here."

Black Lotus gasped in shock. "That voice… It can't be. Is that you, Megumi?"

Kirito was shocked as well. "What the hell? How did Megumi get here? She's not a Burst Linker."

Lotus eyed Megumi's avatar closely. It looked like her entire body was slightly transparent. And the hem of her skirt and tips of her hair were shimmering like a heat haze. It all clicked with the Black King.

"Megumi must have been a Burst Linker in the past," Lotus guessed. "Before I went to Umesato and met you and the others. But that doesn't explain why she's here."

"Another one?!" Sulfur Pot shouted in anger. "Just how many more you pests are there?! Enough! I'm reducing you all to cinders right now!"

Holding the reins, Sulfur Pot stretched out his arms straight ahead, and a thin smoke started to leak out from not just the two holes in his palms, but also the holes on his shoulders, chest and hips. "Charcoal Storm!"

Immediately after he said the name, clouds of black smoke erupted from the yellow avatar's entire body, but it was much bigger than last time. It was as if he wanted to set the whole town on fire.

"Crap," Kirito cried out. "If he ignites this cloud, we're dead."

"Megumi!" Lotus exclaimed, moving to take a step forward, only for the pale-pink avatar to hold her back with her scepter.

"It's okay. Don't worry, Hime," Megumi said gently. "I'll protect you."

Megumi brandished her scepter that she kept in her left hand. The large gem embedded in the tip of the staff unleashed a bright rainbow light. The glittering immediately enveloped her avatar's entire body and soared up into the sky.

"Paradigm Revolution," Megumi called out.

The immense light soared even higher into the sky. When the pillar of light pierced the sky, it puffed out a ring, and spread out like a curtain. Kirito and Lotus had seen a seven-colored aurora like this before, the one that changes the attributes of the Unlimited Neutral Field.

"No way," Lotus said in disbelief. "A…forced…change!"

"I didn't even think it was possible for a Burst Linker to do that," Kirito added.

The duo watched as the dark clouds changed into a clear blue sky. The dusty wind shifted into a dry, gentle breeze of a southern country.

"Wha-?! What is-?!" Sulfur Pot shouted from atop Nidhogg's head, as the eruption of gunpowder stopped, and he changed his grip on the reins.

"Nick, ignition! Blow them all away! Scorching…"

But that instruction was never carried.

Suddenly the ground disappeared, or more accurately, changed from a sand-covered wasteland into the blue surface of water. Kirito, Lotus, Marine Dolphin, Coral Merrow, Kingbolt (who was still on his back), along with Nidhogg and its master, were all helplessly swallowed up by the water.

Kirito and Lotus quickly threw their arms out to avoid sinking and popped their heads above the water's surface and looked around. There wasn't a single hint of land anywhere, with the only exceptions being some rocks and islands off in the distance. Everywhere else was covered with water. It was the ultimate nature-type water attribute stage, the Ocean stage.

"Hime."

Lotus looked up and saw Megumi's avatar hovering above the water's surface. She seemed to be smiling gently.

"My magical moment here is nearly over. It's time for me to stop living in the past and move on. So please, Hime. Live your life the way you think is best."

Black Lotus didn't think she could understand the full meaning of those words, but nodded nonetheless. "I will. Thank you, Megumi."

Megumi dipped her head gently before ascending up to the sky and disappearing.

"That was weird," Kirito commented. "Do you have any idea what that was about, Kuroba?"

"I'm not sure," Lotus replied. "But we'll worry about that later. We've got a battle to finish."

"Right."

The black duo both submerged themselves and began descending through the clear blue water. They saw that Nidhogg was kicking its short legs a little ways off, with Sulfur Pot intently yanking the reins, as if trying to make the dinosaur float up somehow, but it was clear that the Enemy was not adapted to water. Countless bubbles escaped from its mouth, and it didn't have any leeway to release its breath attack. Sulfur Pot's haze also disappeared.

Kirito noticed that Dolphin and Merrow were looking around goggle-eyed as they swam smoothly in a standing position. Right beneath them was Crikin, who was flailing his limbs madly as he sunk like a rock.

His voice came out with a burbling effect applied to it as he said, "A-a-a little help, people? In case you didn't notice, I'm drowning here!"

"Sorry, Crikin," Lotus replied. "But you'll have to sink for a while. You did good work back there though."

"Good-bye, Master!" Dolphin and Merrow said while waving.

"Alright then. Kirito, Dolphin, Merrow, we're on the brink of victory right now," Lotus continued. "Let's finish off this miserable cheater off for good before he can escape off to some island."

"Okay," Dolphin and Merrow agreed.

"Here's the plan. Kirito and I will attack the dinosaur head on. While we're doing that, you two attack from the sides. Be careful not to get hit."

"Don't worry about us, Kuroba," Marine Dolphin said confidently. "We're in the ocean now."

"Whenever we're in the water, we're always at our best!" Coral Merrow added.

"You guys can leave the water stuff to us!" they said, and before the older duo could say anything, the younger Burst Linkers started swimming. Their movements were smooth, befitting the dolphin and mermaid that ruled their names, but Lotus couldn't help but worry that battling an Enemy would…

But in the next moment, Dolphin and Merrow spun around once in the water and cried out in sync, "Shape Change! Marine Mode!"

Their bodies were wrapped in a blue and coral light. The small fin-shaped parts that protruded from Lagoon Dolphin's elbows to her hips suddenly grew in size and her feet were equipped with large fins.

Coral Merrow's transformation was even more dramatic. Her legs fused into one, turning into a fish's tail, and she began swimming just like a mermaid would.

With their bodies adapting to the water, the pair nodded at each other once more and began to swim in a straight line. Their speed was incredible, much faster than they were running on land. They easily closed in on Nidhogg like torpedoes.

Sulfur Pot finally noticed the two approaching them and said, "Small fry, huh!"

He yanked the reins back as hard as he could. The dinosaur changed the direction its head was facing, looking pained all the while, and lunged its teeth at the duo. But it never reached them. Dolphin and Merrow began circling the dinosaur at high speed, as if to surround Sulfur Pot. They were swirling up the water into a tornado.

"Whoa! Y-you-! What are-?!" Sulfur Pot shouted from the center of the vortex as his body gently rose away from the dinosaur.

"I get it," Kirito said. "They're trying to separate Sulfur from Nidhogg. If we take out those reins, he won't be able to order Nidhogg around anymore."

Lotus simply smirked. "That we can do."

Sulfur Pot tried to hold onto the reins, but his avatar type had low arm strength, so he was forced to let go and was sent flying away while spinning.

"Aaaah!"

"Now!" Kirito shouted.

The Black Swordsman and Black King shot towards the Legend-class Enemy. They weren't as fast as the aquatic avatars, but they soon closed the distance. When they were close to the reins, the duo pulled their right swords in sync as far as they could.

"Death By Piercing!" Lotus shouted.

"Vorpal Strike!" Kirito bellowed.

Their swords began glowing purple and red respectively as they lunged at the reins, severing it effortlessly. The leather split from the sides and the reins fell from the monster's mouth. It took a few seconds for the tamed effect to fade from the Enemy. When it did, Nidhogg's eyes shone with a sinister red gleam.

Both Kirito and Black Lotus braced themselves for a fight, but the dinosaur wasn't after them. Its snout jerked and pointed upward. It twisted its long tail furiously and began paddling powerfully with all four limbs and started to ascend nimbly.

"I guess that thing can swim after all," Kirito commented. Lotus could only nod in agreement.

Nidhogg was heading straight for Sulfur Pot, who was near the surface of the ocean. Dolphin and Merrow were spinning around him at high speed, preventing him from moving.

"N-Nick!" Sulfur called out in a high-pitched voice as he saw the approaching Enemy. "Over here! Rip these two brats to pieces!"

Neither of the Okinawan Burst Linkers made any attempt to flee. Instead, they watched as Nidhogg swam past them and charged at its former master with the force of a large submarine. It opened its mouth and snarled at Sulfur.

"Nick, no!" Sulfur Pot exclaimed as he tried to swim away, but Nidhogg was quickly gaining on him. "Nick, I'm your master! No! No, stop it! Noooo-!"

The scream was abruptly ended as Nidhogg swallowed its master whole, giving the yellow avatar a quick death. The group watched as Nidhogg simply swam away, enjoying its new freedom.

Megumi's forced transition then wore off, causing the Ocean stage to revert back to the Wasteland stage. As soon as they landed on dry land Kirito let out a deep breath.

"Thank God its finally over!" he said. Kirito's body then reverted back to Graphite Edge, as if his mental state had returned to normal.

"You both were excellent, Ruka, Mana," Lotus added. "That was some wonderful fighting."

"Thanks, Kuroba," Dolphin said cheerfully. "I'm going to get stronger. I'll train more and study more and get stronger. And then, can we have another duel?"

Black Lotus simply smiled. "Of course. I look forward to it, Ruka. Now then, I feel like we're forgetting something."

Graphite Edge looked over his shoulder and saw a screw-shaped avatar tumbling towards them.

"Uh, I think I know what it was," the metal type said as he pointed to Crikin.

"I can't believe you guys left me on the ocean floor like that!" Crimson Kingbolt exclaimed. "Whatever. It's not like I would've been useful back there. I'm just a crummy old screw."

Lotus had to suppress a wry smile before bowing her head. "I'm sorry. It totally slipped my mind."

Graphite Edge eyed Sulfur Pot's respawn point and saw the timer tick away. "I think it might be time for you all to go. Lotus and I need to question him on a few things."

"Alright," Crimson Kingbolt said. "But I've got a few questions myself. Graphite, you're him, aren't you? The Black Swordsman, Kirito."

"What?!" Dolphin and Merrow exclaimed in shock.

The dual wielder hesitated for a moment before nodding. "I am."

"So that Sulfur guy was telling the truth after all. Now for you Lotus. Where did you get that silver crystal on your chest?"

The Black King was silent as she tried to come up with a response. "Since you three are so far away from the main Legions, I guess I can tell you," she said. She deactivated her arm-blades and brought her right hand to her Core Crystal. "Several months ago, I got into an accident protecting Marth, the Dark Swordsman. He's an Aegis, and he in turn, saved my life by resonating with me and transferring half of his Core Crystal to me."

"I see," Crikin said slowly. "So they're all alive? The Alfheim Warriors?"

"Yes," Lotus confirmed.

"Cool. If what that Sulfur Pot said is true, this world might need them again to save it. Anyway, here." Crikin tossed Lotus a card, which she caught in her left hand. She checked and saw it was the Enhanced Armament, Mystical Reins. "That's the item he was using to control that Legend-class Enemy. I found it while I was on the ocean floor. Think of it as a token of my gratitude."

"Thanks," Lotus said, not wanting to be rude. She opened her storage and put the item inside. "I'll take good care of it."

Crikin eyed his students and saw them rubbing their eyes tiredly. "Okay, then. Looks like it's time for us to head home. I'll see you around, Lotus, Graphite."

"I hope we meet again sometime," Graphite Edge replied. "And good luck building a Brain Burst community here in Okinawa."

The Okinawan Burst Linkers simply smiled as they head for the hotel to log off. Once they were out of sight, Lotus and Graphite turned their attention to the marker of Sulfur Pot's death.

"Now let's get some answers," Black Lotus declared as she readied her arm-blades. "We'll keep killing him until he finally talks. I wonder who long it will take. Hours? Days?"

Graphite Edge drew his swords as he readied for a fight. Unbeknownst to them, however, Arcanos was watching them from a nearby rooftop.

"Sorry, Dawn Remnant, but I can't let you and the Black Swordsman find out just yet," he said smugly. "We still have preparations to make before we're ready."

Arcanos summoned a sphere of dark energy in his right palm and sent it hurling towards Sulfur Pot's marker. As soon as the orb made contact, the marker was gone.

"What the-?" Graphite Edge said in shock. He turned in the direction the attack came from, but Arcanos was gone. The only trace of him being faint wisps of darkness.

**To be continued**

* * *

**Originally I wanted to end this chapter with Marth, Asuna, Kirito and Kuroba meeting to discuss what they've learned, but this chapter was getting long enough so I'll have to save it for the next chapter. By the way, Okinawa arc is not over yet. I've still got a few more chapters planned for it. Anyway, I'll see you all next time!**


	19. Clash in the Ruins

**April 14th, 2057**

Frank, Kazuto, Asuna and Kuroba were in the former two's hotel room to discuss what they've found out. The girls were sitting on one of the beds while Kazuto sat on the other. Frank, on the other hand, was sitting in chair by a desk. Ruka and Mana had left earlier to meet up with their master in the real world.

"I can't believe there are humans who have joined the monsters," Asuna said. "And you say that Sulfur Pot and his allies know who we are?"

"Yes," Kuroba confirmed. "He knew Kazuto was Graphite Edge and about his Black Swordsman persona. However, I don't know if he knows my identity."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he did," Kazuto spoke up. "Cyan Demon was stalking you for months before we defeated him. It would make sense if he told his allies your true identity."

Kuroba nodded her head in agreement. "That would be the logical thing to do. But still, how did Sulfur Pot and his human allies learn of your identities?"

"I don't know," Kazuto replied, holding his chin with his right hand. "Any pictures of the Alfheim Warriors from thirty years ago are kept in a government database that's heavily encrypted. You don't want to know how many close calls Frank and I had when we hacked into the government records to retrieve a few of those photos."

"I see." Kuroba turned to the Aegis, who had been silent during the whole discussion, and noticed he seemed deep in thought. "Is something wrong, Frank?"

Frank nearly jumped at the sound of his name being called, but quickly collected himself. "No. I'm just… trying to process it all."

Kuroba stared at him curiously, as if not believing him, but chose not to press it, much to the Aegis's relief. The way she stared reminded him painfully of Yuuki, which only increased his desire to protect Kuroba. Frank hated lying to her and his friends, but he couldn't tell them what Arcanos said at the docks.

Ever since Kuroba confessed her feelings to him, Frank has thought about what he thought of the Black King. He liked her long black hair that reminded him of starless night sky. Her amber eyes that hid her own hardships and knowledge. Like him, Kuroba has her own demons, things she regrets. Despite barely knowing him, Kuroba trusts Frank with her life and the Aegis would be lying if he said the feeling wasn't mutual.

Frank internally groaned. _"I can't deny it anymore. I do love Kuroba. But…"_ His mind flashed to seeing Yuuki's corpse in a makeshift morgue. Grief and regret threatened to overwhelm him as the memory grew stronger. _"Do I even deserve to be happy? It's my fault Yuuki and so many other people died in the Demon War. All I do is cause pain and misery to the people close to me. Maybe… maybe the world would be better off without me."_

"Frank! Are you listening?"

The Black Wolf player snapped out of his thoughts and saw his friends staring at him in concern. Kazuto seemed the most skeptical of the three.

"Wow, you're really out of it today," Asuna commented. "I don't remember you ever being this quiet before, not even during the boss raid meetings back in SAO."

Frank looked away guiltily. "Sorry. I've just got a lot on my mind right now."

It hurt Kuroba to see the boy she loved in this state. She could tell that out of the four of them, Frank was taking it the hardest when it came to accepting the fact that humans and monsters are working together, plotting something behind the scenes. It went against everything that he and so many others had fought for during the Demon War. If this new united enemy were to start another war, not only would Frank have to kill real monsters again, but he would also be forced to kill other humans. While Kuroba didn't know the Aegis's entire past, including his time in SAO, she remembered reading that near the end of the death game, the Assault Team did battle with the player-killing guild called Laughing Coffin. It was a bloody battle that came straight from the pits of hell itself. A living nightmare that never seemed to end.

Ten members of the Assault Team lost their lives in that battle, while Laughing Coffin lost twenty players, with the remainder being arrested and taken to prison. From what Kuroba had read, the ones who took those deaths the hardest were Kirito and Marth. During the fight, they both snapped and lost control of themselves, killing any Laughing Coffin members that dared crossed swords with them. It reminded her of when she beheaded the first Red King, Red Rider, only the Darkness Duo never intended to kill, and Red Rider was still alive in the real world somewhere.

Plus, from what Asuna had told her, Serra, the human that she and Frank had fought earlier today, seemed to know them almost on a personal level. Asuna also found it strange that Serra has a deep hatred for the Aegis, claiming that Frank had done something unforgivable to her, but Serra never told them what it is that he did.

"Maybe we should contact Sinon and the others," Asuna suggested. "They need to know about this."

"I agree, Asuna," Kazuto replied. "But we're forbidden from messaging other students because it would 'disturb their studies'…" He made quotation gestures when he said the last three words. "It's a stupid rule, but if we disobey it, we won't be allowed to leave the hotel until the school trip is over. And I don't about you guys, but I don't think I can handle being stuck in this building for five more days."

Asuna groaned in annoyance. "This is so frustrating. Can't we do anything?"

"I don't know, Asuna," Kuroba said. "We'll just have to hope that our friends will be alright in our absence." She then brought her hands together. "Anyway, let's change the subject. As Kazuto pointed out, we've got five more days until we have to head back to Tokyo. How about we try to relax and enjoy ourselves?"

"That's a good idea, Kuroba," Asuna said with a smile. "I know. Let's all go to the beach!"

Both Kazuto and Frank looked uncomfortable with idea, albeit for different reasons.

"I don't know, Asuna," Kazuto said slowly. "I don't really like the beach all that much."

"That didn't seem to be a problem when we went to beaches in Alfheim."

"Because you don't to worry about sand sticking to you in VR," the Graphite Edge player argued. "I hate the feeling of sand in my swim trunks. Why don't we just tour through the town?"

The chestnut-haired girl sighed in disappointment. "Fine. We can do that. Marth, Kuroba, what do you two think?"

"I'm fine with it," Kuroba replied immediately.

Frank, however, was more hesitant to answer. "I guess that's okay." He had a weird look in his eyes, though only Kazuto could see it.

The quartet agreed to meet up in the hotel's lobby right at three o'clock, fifteen minutes from now, and would head back from their tour at around seven for rollcall and dinner. Asuna and Kuroba went back to their rooms to prepare while Frank and Kazuto stayed where they were.

"Okay, spill," Kazuto said firmly. "What's going on with you?"

Frank simply looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie to me! I know you better than anyone. You're hiding something, aren't you?"

Guilt threatened to take over Frank as he refused to meet eye contact with his best friend.

"That Arcanos guy told you something else before he got away, didn't he?" Kazuto guessed. "Like maybe a meeting place or something like that? I'll take your silence as confirmation." He stormed over to the Aegis and forced the latter to look at him. "Why didn't you tell us?! It's obviously a trap! You can't trust these bastards!"

"You wouldn't understand," Frank answered solemnly.

"No, I'm probably one of the few people who _do_ understand! You're planning on going alone, am I right?"

Frank lowered his head and choked back a sob. "It's my fault that all of this is happening. If I didn't merge with this stupid Core, the Demon War would never have happened and Yuuki and Celina would still be alive." He clenched the arms of the chair so tightly that his fingertips turned a pale white. "My life is cursed. All I do is bring pain and misery to the people close to me. At least if I'm alone, then I won't be able to hurt anyone."

Shock overwhelmed Kazuto before it was replaced with anger. He knew that Frank beat himself up for what happened during the Demon War, but he didn't think it was this bad. However, deep down, Kazuto knew that he felt the same way.

"You idiot!" Kazuto slapped Frank hard on the cheek with an open palm, surprising the latter and a certain black-haired girl as she felt a sudden pain on her right cheek. "You couldn't have known what would've happened during the war. We're _all_ suffering for what happened." Kazuto made a loud gulp as his anger changed to sorrow and lowered his head. "Besides, if anyone should be blamed for it, it should be me. I let you down right when it mattered the most. I failed to control your power and you went on a rampage because of it. I'm the reason Yuuki's dead, not you."

Frank's eyes filled with sorrow. "Kazuto…"

"I know that I can't stop you from going, but at least let me come with you. We've always done things together, so why stop now?" Kazuto said firmly. _"Besides… this could be how I make amends for Yuuki's death."_

The room was silent for a few moments before it was broken. "Alright. If that's what you really want, you can come. Just don't tell the girls about this."

Kazuto forced himself to grin as he lifted his head. "Deal."

Frank checked the time and saw that it was 2:55 so they decided to head down to lobby via the elevator. When they arrived, they saw Kuroba was already there. She had a white sunhat on and was carrying a small black handbag.

"Hey, Kuroba," Kazuto said casually. "What's the bag for?"

The Black King turned to face her friends and said, "Well I thought I'd get a souvenir for Megumi while we're out since I forgot to get one yesterday. I hope you don't mind."

"It's cool," Frank said. "You told me once that the two of you were friends, but you haven't really hung out recently."

"Yeah. I feel guilty for that, but ever since I met you, Kazuto, and everyone else, I've been growing distant with Megumi," Kuroba admitted, a tinge of sorrow in her tone. "It's not your fault, it's just that some friends go their separate ways after a while. There's nothing that can be done about that."

"I see."

Soon Asuna joined the trio and they all headed out. Megumi watched them go at a distance but chose not to follow. She didn't entirely remember what happened after she said, "Unlimited Burst", but for some reason, she felt that she should leave Kuroba be. Instead, Megumi decided to go back to her room and read one of the books she brought with her.

_"Just please be careful, Hime,"_ Megumi thought as she entered the elevator.

* * *

Arcanos was standing in the middle of some strange ruins that were by the ocean. All the structures were entirely black and seemed ancient, yet it felt impossible for them to be there. The ruins were a few miles out of Henoko, but hardly anyone would come to see them, not even tourists. The reason was because the ruins had this presence that warded off trespassers. Even the animals wouldn't dare go near.

"So this is all that remains of the Shadow Fortress," Arcanos mused to himself as he put one hand on a nearby wall and looked up. "The Aegis sure did a number on it. I don't think even the Dark Crystal could restore it. No matter… soon we'll have all we need to locate Master Zarc and then we can finally have our revenge."

Heavy footsteps echoed in the air, but Arcanos knew who it was.

"What are you doing here, Arcanos?" a voice boomed. "This place is completely trashed."

Arcanos gave the new arrival a fierce glare. "You would be wise to not insult these ruins, Blados," he said coldly. "They serve as proof of Zarc's power and its creator, the God of Darkness, Zeta."

Blados was a large orc with teal skin. He had short black hair, green eyes, and a long beard that was braided. He wore red metal armor with a black cape and had a large double-axe strapped to his back.

"Fat lot of good that did to Zarc," Blados chided. "The Aegis easily demolished it with that Artifice. As for Lord Zeta, he's dead. That damn Twilight Hero killed him eons ago."

Suddenly Blados felt a burst of wind before finding Arcanos's sword aimed right at his neck.

"I wouldn't finish that thought if I were you," Arcanos warned, his eyes not containing any mercy. "You know as well as I that Lord Zeta split his soul during his dying moments so that he can be reborn in a different era. While we should work to revive Zeta, our main objective should be locating Zarc, his most trusted retainer and second in command."

Blados gritted his teeth before bowing his head, prompting Arcanos to lower his sword. "Fine. But then what?"

Arcanos simply chuckled. "Sorry, but that's need-to-know. We can't let the Dark Swordsman and his allies find out our plans too quickly after all."

"Why you-!" Blados reached for his axe, only for Arcanos to point the tip of his sword underneath the orc's neck.

"Ah-ah-ah," Arcanos said calmly. "Remember that with Zarc missing, I'm in charge. Which means that you will obey _me_! Understood?"

Blados growled in frustration as he stared with a murderous gaze.

" _Understood_?" Arcanos repeated.

"Understood," the orc replied, not even trying to hide the venom in his voice.

"Good. Now then, tonight the Dark Swordsman will come here seeking answers. I want you fight him with all your might. Hold nothing back."

The axe-wielder simply snarled. "Fine. Now get your smug face out of here before I sever your head!"

"Very well," Arcanos said calmly as he summoned a red magic circle underneath him. "See you later, Blados."

The swordsman then teleported away, leaving the orc alone in the quiet ruins.

"Hmph. Demons," Blados said in frustration.

He didn't like that Arcanos prevented him from attacking the weakling humans in the real world. If he wanted a fight, he'd have to transport to the Accelerated World and challenge a Burst Linker to a duel. Sure duels did give Blados a thrill, but it didn't quench his bloodthirst. Those virtual fights just couldn't satisfy him like a battle in the real world could.

"Hmm… I wonder if the Dark Swordsman will give me the battle I've been craving. If I had to die, I would it be by him or one of the Alfheim Warriors. Such a death would be glorious."

Blados simply smirked in anticipation, excited for the battle to come.

* * *

Kuroba and her Legion members were wandering through the market center, looking through all items each vender had in stock. Kuroba had gotten a leather bracelet decorated with seashells for Megumi and kept it safe in her bag. She and Asuna were in front while Frank and Kazuto were in back. The boys seemed to be whispering something, but Kuroba couldn't make out what they were saying.

"What are you guys talking about?" Kuroba asked while giving a sidelong glance.

"Nothing important," Frank replied. "Just tossing ideas on what we can do for the remainder of our vacation."

Kuroba eyed her Blade with suspicion but chose not to press the matter further. However, her instincts were telling her that Frank was hiding something.

_"I know that if I try to wait for Frank to reach out to me like Yuuki did, nothing will change,"_ Kuroba thought to herself. _"But if I push too hard, I might risk pushing him away. Argh! Why is this so complicated?!"_

The quartet went into a clothing store, or more accurately the girls dragged the boys into a clothing store, and began browsing through items. After a while, Asuna and Kuroba decided to try on some clothes and told Kazuto and Frank to give their opinions on them. The first was Asuna, who was wearing a white sundress with red trimming with a button-down top and frilly short sleeves.

"Well, Kirito, how do I look?" Asuna questioned cheerfully.

Kazuto simply smiled and said, "You look beautiful, Asuna. Those are totally your colors."

Asuna giggled at the compliment. "Thanks, Kirito. What about you, Marth?"

"Looks great," Frank replied. "That dress suits you."

The Lightning Flash went back to her changing room to try out the next outfit, prompting Kuroba to come out of hers. The leader of Nega Nebulus was wearing a sundress as well, only hers was black with a white collar. The sleeves of the dress were long and were white at the wrists, which kind of went against the heat, but Kuroba didn't seem to mind. Instead she seemed very self-conscious, very different from her usual confidence.

"W-well," Kuroba stuttered, trying hard not to blush. "What do you guys think?"

Seeing her in that dress had made Frank's brain stop functioning for a few seconds until Kazuto gave him a nudge. "Uh, it looks good on you, Kuroba," Frank struggled to say, struggling to not look embarrassed, but given the smirk on Kazuto's face, it wasn't working.

The Graphite Edge player let out an amused chuckle. "I agree. If it flusters even Frank, it's a good pick."

"Kazuto!" Frank protested.

Kuroba's cheeks were tinged with hints of red as she struggled to keep her composure, what little she had left of it anyway. However, she was happy that she got a reaction out of Frank.

* * *

**That night**

Kazuto was sitting on his bed, getting a quick power nap. When his alarm went off, he immediately shot awake and checked the clock that was located in the top right view of his field of vision and saw that it was eleven o'clock. He opened the internet and did a quick search for any ancient ruins located near Henoko and found that the only ruins that were in the vicinity were some mysterious black ruins of a ruined fortress.

"Found it," Kazuto said quietly. "Frank, you awake?"

He turned to the neighboring bed and saw that it was empty. Instead, he found his partner on the porch outside. Kazuto climbed off his bed before joining his partner on the porch. Frank had changed into his Marth avatar from Alfheim Online and was looking up at the stars.

"And here I thought you left without me," Kazuto joked, getting a chuckle out of the Spriggan.

"Please, we both know you would've chased after me if I did," Marth replied. "Did you find the ruins we need to go to?"

"Yeah. The only ruins near Henoko are located five miles out, near the ocean. That's gotta be the place."

"Good," Marth said solemnly. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. "I know this is most likely a trap, but I feel like I have to go. I've got to find out what Arcanos and his allies are doing and put a stop to it. Plus…" Marth paused for a moment as he placed his right hand on his Core Crystal. "I've got to make amends for what I did."

Kazuto put one hand on his best friend's shoulder. "You and me both, Marth. Anyway, since we're going to an obvious trap and don't know if we'll come back alive, we might as well come clean. Tell me honestly, do you love Kuroba?"

"Yes," Marth confessed. "I can't deny it anymore. But I'm not sure I deserve a second chance at love. Not after what happened to Yuuki."

Suddenly Kazuto saw a vision of himself, in his Spriggan avatar, holding a dying Yuuki in his arms on top of the collapsing Shadow Fortress. Marth's final attack was his Artifice, Silver Siren, unleashing countless bolts of silver light in all directions. Dark Siren, a copy of the true Artifice that was created through the Shadow Crystal, was hit multiple times, causing it to fall towards the ocean, its body deteriorating as it descended with Zarc inside.

Marth's attack struck countless other monsters, killing them instantly, but Tokyo and the Shadow Fortress were also hit, which had caused the latter to collapse. One bolt was sailing towards Kirito, who was unable to move due to the feedback of Marth's powers becoming unstable, prompting Yuuki to shield him with her own body, with bolt piercing her stomach.

Asuna and the others had tried to heal the Absolute Sword's wound, but for some reason, it refused to close as it kept leaking blood.

"Yuuki," Kirito sobbed as tears ran down his cheeks.

The purple-haired girl cracked a small smile. "Kirito, promise me you'll look after Marth for me," she said slowly. "Like it or not, he needs you more than me. Make him realize…he doesn't have to go at it alone."

Kirito slowly nodded his head. "Alright," he said slowly, his voice cracking. "You can count on me. I won't let you down, Yuuki."

The Imp let out a series of hoarse coughs as her vision became blurry because of the blood loss. "One more thing," Yuuki said firmly. "Tell Marth…to let me go. Don't let…me be…the one holding him…from finding someone special. Someone…who could be something I couldn't for him."

The Black Swordsman was silent for a moment before saying, "Okay. I'll tell him."

Yuuki gave one last smile and said, "Thank…you… Goodbye…" Her body went limp as she succumbed to her wound, which was where the vision ended.

_"That was…one of my memories,"_ Kazuto thought, sorrow creeping into his heart. _"Yuuki's final moments in this world. Even on death's door, she still worried about Marth."_

"Yuuki wouldn't want you to punish yourself over her death," Kazuto spoke up. "She would want you to move on."

Marth let out a sob as his eyes became watery. "That sounds like her alright. But it doesn't make the pain go away."

Kazuto felt sorry for the Aegis, but he knew that Marth had to hear that. He sorely hoped that Kuroba will be able to get through to Marth and allow him to open his heart again.

"Anyway," Kazuto continued. "We should get going. We're wasting time just standing here."

Marth dried his eyes by wiping them with his coat sleeve. "Y-yeah," he said, trying to calm himself down. "You ready?"

"You bet."

Marth wrapped an arm around Kazuto's waist before summoning his wings, which sparkled in the moonlight. The Spriggan then took off into the sky, flying straight for the mysterious black ruins.

It took them about twenty minutes to arrive at the ruins, which gave an ominous presence that sent shivers down their spines. Marth opted to land outside the ruins rather than at the center to avoid any potential ambushes. He then unleashed a mini-Fenrir Effect to allow Kazuto to change into Kirito (ALO form). The Spriggans then drew their weapons and proceeded through the ruins, using their night vision and senses to search for any possible attacks.

"Hey, Kirito," Marth muttered as they walked. "Do these ruins look familiar to you?"

"Yeah," the Black Swordsman agreed. "I recognize these structures anywhere. These are remains of the Shadow Fortress. Somehow, they must have ended up here after the fortress was destroyed during the Demon War. But how?"

Suddenly a loud voice boomed, "Wouldn't you like to know?!"

The Spriggans immediately went on-guard and scanned the area for the source of the voice. Soon they reached the center of the ruins, where they found a teal-skinned orc in red armor wielding a large red double-axe.

"Well, well, well," the orc said mockingly. "Looks like the demon was right. The Dark Swordsman did come after all, but with a friend, the Black Swordsman no less. Too afraid to fight your own battles, are you?!"

"As if!" Marth declared as he flashed his swords menacingly. "Kirito and I are here for answers. What exactly are you guys planning and why?"

The orc just shrugged. "Beats me. Arcanos loves keeping his plans very top secret even from his own allies. He finds it rather amusing watching you and your humans second guessing themselves as you try to figure them out."

Kirito gritted his teeth in anger. "So you don't know anything about what he's up to?" he questioned.

"Hey, I don't like it either!" the orc argued, his voice sounding bitter. "But since that demon is in charge, I have to do what he says. Speaking of which," he gripped his axe with both hands and got into a battle stance, "my orders are to fight the Dark Swordsman and I'm going to really enjoy watching you two bleed." The orc formed a menacing smile, revealing his pointed yellow teeth.

"Mind telling us your name before we fight?" Marth questioned, tightening his grip on his swords.

"Very well, since neither of you are getting out of here alive, I'll tell you my name. It's Blados. Now die!"

The orc charged at the duo, his axe raised to strike. A loud metallic clash soared through the air as weapons met.

* * *

Kuroba was in her customized avatar inside of a black void. The only source of light was a silver star above her that was raining silver particles.

"What the?" Kuroba questioned.

She reached out to touch the particles, but they moved to avoid her grasp. After a while, she finally managed to collect one in her palms and examined it. Kuroba gasped as she recognized what it was, a particle from Black Wolf's wings. She then heard the howling of a lone wolf, the howl itself sounding very sad.

_You've got to wake up._

The voice was female and sounded like it came from everywhere. It also sounded very familiar to Kuroba.

"Who said that?" the Black King demanded as she eyed her surroundings. "Show yourself!"

_Marth and Kirito are in danger,_ the voice urged. _If you don't hurry, they'll die! Please, you have to wake up!_

Kuroba just seemed confused. "What are you-? Ahh!" Suddenly Kuroba's right arm flared with pain. She quickly looked it over and saw that there was a cut near the shoulder that wasn't there before. It wasn't very deep and was slowly starting to heal, but it was pouring blood. What was strange though was that Kuroba saw what seemed to be particles of light in her blood.

"Gaahh!" That was Frank's voice and it sounded like he was in pain.

"Frank!" Kuroba shouted in worry.

Her eyes shot open and immediately sat up in her bed. Her breathing was heavy, and her heart was racing. Megumi was still fast asleep, unaware of what happened.

"Was it…just a dream?" Kuroba wondered to herself. She abruptly felt her right arm stinging, prompting her to check it. When she did, Kuroba could see a gash right near her shoulder.

_"That wasn't a dream,"_ she realized. _"That was real!"_

Blood had already soaked a part of her sleeve, so Kuroba hurried to the bathroom to clean and bandaged her wound. As she did so, she noticed that her blood had trace amounts of what seemed to be light particles in it.

"What the?" Kuroba questioned. She's gotten countless amounts of injuries that drew blood before, ranging from paper cuts to bicycle crashes, but she never remembered seeing light particles in her blood before.

The cut had closed enough for Kuroba to put a bandage on it, though she was going to have a hell of a time explaining it to Megumi in the morning. Kuroba knew that she didn't get that injury anytime today, which meant one thing. Frank was hurt.

_"No, it can't be,"_ Kuroba reasoned. _"He's sleeping in his room with Kazuto."_

However, her injured arm said otherwise as miniscule amounts of pain traveled through her nerves. Kuroba decided to go check on her protégé so she quietly left her room and went over to Frank and Kazuto's room.

"Frank, are you awake?" Kuroba questioned as she gently knocked on the door. No answer came from inside. As worry began to overtake her, Kuroba used her copy of the boys' hotel key, which Frank had given her for emergencies, and hastily opened the door. Instead of being greeted by the sight of Frank and Kazuto sleeping in their beds, instead she was greeted by an empty room.

Suddenly Kuroba's side began hurting. She didn't need to look to know that there was a new wound there. This all confirmed to the Black King that the boy she loved was in the middle of a battle and Kazuto was most likely with him.

_"But why didn't he tell me?"_ Kuroba asked herself.

_Hurry! You've got to get to Marth!_

"Who said that?" Kuroba looked around the room but saw that she was alone. She then felt something warm against her right wrist. The Black King looked down and saw that her sword charm was emitting purple light.

The light wasn't harmful in any way. Instead it felt gentle and serene, like meeting an old friend after being away for a long period of time. It was then that Kuroba finally recognized the voice.

"It can't be," she muttered quietly. "That voice…it was Yuuki. But how?"

Kuroba stared at her charm, as if hoping for an answer, but the sword charm simply maintained its glow. She realized that she was wasting time, so she closed her eyes and concentrated on her resonance with her protégé. After a few seconds, she saw visions of black ruins, the night sky, and Marth and Kirito battling a teal orc that was wearing red armor. Kuroba didn't recognize the ruins or know where they were located, but she didn't need to, as she could feel a tugging sensation to the east, Marth's location.

Kuroba immediately hurried back to her room and changed into a black shirt, a skirt, black stocking and shoes. As she did so, her charm stopped glowing, as if it had served its purpose. If she wasn't in such a rush, she would've woken up Asuna, but her only concern at the moment was getting to Marth. Kuroba then made her way out of the hotel and ran east, using her link with the Aegis as her guide.

_"Hold on, Marth,"_ Kuroba pleaded as she ran as fast as she could. _"I'm coming. Just hold on."_

* * *

"Gaahh!" Marth exclaimed as he felt Blados's axe pierce his right side. He managed to knock the axe away with Lunara before slashing at the orc's waist with Solaris, only for Blados to roll out of the way. Marth then fell on one knee as he struggled to catch his breath. He had multiple other cuts around his body, most of which were dripping blood. What was odd though was that Marth's blood seemed to have black streams in it, almost like a shadow.

"You okay, Marth?" Kirito questioned. He also had a few cuts around his torso, none of which were fatal, but his breathing was a little hard.

"Y-yeah," Marth replied. "It's just a scratch."

They had been fighting Blados for about twenty minutes or so, but they've hardly landed a decent blow on the monster. The orc was surprising fast for his size and his burly arms were no joke. Every blow the duo blocked with their swords felt like a truck crashing into them.

Marth and Kirito had been using the Switch strategy that they've used constantly back in SAO, where one of them would knock the opponent's weapon away with a sword skill before the other will land another on the now defenseless enemy. However, Blados's armor was very tough, with even Lunara and Solaris having a hard time cutting through it, and only had a few gashes in it. What made this fight even harder was that Blados seemed to be getting stronger as the battle progressed while Marth and Kirito felt themselves getting weaker instead.

Blados simply grunted in annoyance. "Is that the best you've got, Darkness Duo?" he goaded. "Even an adolescent orc would be harder than this."

Kirito gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his swords. "Oh yeah?! We'll see about that!" The Spriggan charged at the orc, activating Vorpal Strike with his black sword.

"Wait Kirito!" Marth exclaimed in worry, but it was too late as not even he or his partner could cancel a sword skill mid-activation.

The Aegis could only watch as Kirito lunged his right sword at Blados, which the orc deflected with his axe, knocking Kirito off-balance. Blados swung his axe overhead, intending to cut the Spriggan in half, only for Kirito to block with the Dual Wielding defense skill, Cross Block. They seemed to be evenly matched until Kirito felt his legs growing weak and found himself falling on one knee.

"Wh-what…the hell?" Kirito struggled to say as he now found himself struggling to repel the axe that was inching towards his head. "What's going on?" His train of thoughts were interrupted as Blados promptly kicked Kirito hard in the chest, sending the him flying into a wall.

"Aagh!" Kirito bellowed as his back hit the wall, pain flaring across his entire body. The collision caused him to release some spittle, which had some blood in it. He then collapsed on the ground on his stomach and struggled to get up.

"Kirito!" Marth shouted in worry. He ran to the downed Spriggan and promptly began casting a healing spell. However, since Marth never really invested in healing magic back in Alfheim Online, the most he could cast were the basic healing spells, which he only learned so he didn't have to worry about his HP when he was fighting monsters alone and he was low on healing items.

Kirito's wounds slowly began to close, and his breathing became more stable. Eventually he was able to get back on his feet. He gave his partner a quick thank you before they both turned their sights on their opponent.

"Okay, something's clearly going on here," Kirito said firmly, though he still looked a little unsteady, as did the Aegis. "Marth and I have been in tons of difficult fights before, but we've never struggled _this_ much before. So what's going on?"

Marth had to agree with his partner. While his old self, before he merged with the Aegis Core in his chest, would hardly last a minute in a real fight, his avatar forms have been in constant battles that had varying lengths. In fact, back in SAO, there were Floor Boss fights that took hours to beat. When Marth and his friends switch to their avatars in the real world, their real-life stamina, strength and speed are overwritten by their avatars. Marth's human form, or civilian mode, on the other hand, does have enhanced strength and speed, however it is much weaker than that of his other forms which is why Marth never uses it in an actual fight.

Blados was certainly a powerful monster, that much was clear, but there's no way that he could be wearing out the Darkness Duo this much so quickly. Something had to be weakening the Spriggans while also empowering the orc. But what could it be?

Suddenly Marth noticed that ruined structures all had a shadowy aura around them. The very sight of it made his blood run ice-cold. He then saw that Blados had a dark aura around him too, which seemed to be healing him. It was hard to make out in the moonlight, but Marth could something swirling around the orc.

"No way," Marth said slowly, his eyes widening in horror. He unconsciously took a step backward. "It can't be."

Kirito turned his head and eyed his partner in concern. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"We shouldn't have come here," Marth said quickly. "You were right, Kirito. This was a trap. There's some kind of curse on these ruins. It's sapping our strength while also empowering and healing Blados. That's why none of our attacks have had any impact."

Kirito's eyes widened in horror. "Are you for real?!"

Blados simply sneered. "So you finally figured it out, Dark Swordsman," the orc spoke up finally, causing the duo to face him. "You're as clever as they say. You are correct. This is the final power of the Shadow Fortress. The Curse of the Destroyers. It only activates when the fortress is destroyed, but if the ones responsible for the Shadow Fortress's destruction battle in here, they will find their strength slowly become inhibited. It also strengthens any monsters and heals their wounds."

"Crap!" Kirito said in outrage. "That means this fight was rigged from the start. We've got to get out of here!"

"I don't think so," Blados declared. He slammed the butt of his axe against the ground, causing a black magic circle to appear. Suddenly a dome of purple energy began encircling the edge of the ruins. The moon and stars could no longer be seen, but it was clear that the dome was a barrier of sorts.

"This is another one of the Curse of the Destroyers' powers, but it can only be activated by a monster," Blados explained. "It prevents anyone from entering or leaving this place, including monsters. The only way to leave, if for you to either kill me or I kill you. This battle will not end until one side stops breathing."

Marth and Kirito let out growls of frustration and found that more of their strength was being drained away.

"This isn't good," Kirito said slowly. "If this keeps up, all of our strength will be gone and we'll be completely helpless. We've got to put an end to this fight and fast!"

Marth nodded his head in agreement. "I know. But how?"

Kirito had an idea, it was one he was hesitant to use, but given the circumstances, it might be the only way they would be able to get out of here alive. "I think I know a way," he said. "Our SAO avatars. They're our strongest avatars in our arsenal. If we switch to them, we might be able to defeat Blados and escape from this place."

"Are you sure about that?" Marth questioned. "I've sort of come to terms with my SAO persona, but you haven't. Do you really want to do this?"

The black-eyed Spriggan paused for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. I may not like my Black Swordsman persona, but it might be the only way to win. After all, the reason we made our SAO avatars so strong was so we could survive."

Marth was silent before he relented. "Alright. It looks like the _real_ Darkness Duo is about to make their comeback."

The Spriggans closed their eyes as they focused their thoughts onto their memories from Sword Art Online. They thought about ditching Klein back at the Town of Beginnings, something that they still regret; meeting Asuna and Yuuki in Tolbana and fighting the first Floor Boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord; and finally to when Marth and Kirito fought against Heathcliff and Zelgius in the Floor 75 boss room, whose real identities were Akihiko Kayaba and Brandon Lowell, the creators of the death game, to free everyone.

Marth finally opened his eyes before adjusting his bangs with a gloved hand. His hair had grown a bit longer, about an inch or so, but maintained its black color and his eyes were still a sapphire blue. His overcoat had changed into the familiar blackwyrm coat, but it was slightly different than it was during the battle against Chrome Disaster. It now had gold trimming instead of white and there was an outline of a wolf's face on his right shoulder.

_"Weird, but I guess this could help differentiate me from Kirito a little bit,"_ Marth thought to himself.

Kirito's SAO avatar was still the same, however, but his swords were replaced by Elucidator and Dark Repulser.

"You ready, Marth?" Kirito asked as he readied his dual swords.

Marth drew Lunara and Solaris before taking on a fighting stance. "Always," he said firmly.

Blados simply sneered in anticipation. While he didn't like unfair advantage the Curse gave him, he was impressed by the Darkness Duo's resolve, which wasn't an easy thing to do. He was positive that this would be the glorious battle he had been seeking for years. A battle where both sides are pushed to the edge until a winner is determined.

"I like your spirit, Kirito, Marth," Blados said confidently. "I'd be insulted if you both gave up now. Even with this Curse weakening your powers, you both choose to fight on. The _real_ battle starts now!"

"Here we come, Blados!" Marth declared fiercely.

The Darkness Duo and the orc charged at each other, their weapons poised to strike.

**To be continued**

* * *

**Wow, I honestly didn't think I could write a chapter this long and without drawing from another material. I guess I just surprise myself sometimes. Anyway will Marth and Kirito be able to hold off Blados long enough for Kuroba to reach them? Will the Black King's arrival even make a difference? I guess you'll just have to wait to find out. See you guys next time!**


	20. Millennium Twilight

**April 14th, 2057**

Marth blocked Blados's axe with his swords and managed to hold his ground, despite the curse weakening him. He let out a battle cry as he then knocked the axe away, throwing Blados off-balance. Kirito then rushed in and slashed at the orc with his swords, leaving gashes in the orc's armor that drew black blood.

Blados cracked a smile. "Impressive," the orc said in awe. "But I wonder how long this burst of power will last."

"Long enough to kill you," Kirito replied.

"We'll see about that, human!"

The teal orc swung his axe at the Black Swordsman, aiming for his side, but Kirito evaded by jumping back. Blados then saw Marth coming at him from the right, prompting him to move to defend. Blados swung his axe at the Dark Swordsman's neck, only for Marth to stop its momentum with Lunara.

"Ngh," Marth grunted as the impact shot through his right arm, grateful for the incredibly high strength stat his SAO avatar had. Already he could feel the Curse of the Destroyers draining his strength and stamina. They have to end this quickly before they lose the strength to even stand.

Marth managed to repel Blados's axe and activated Horizontal with Solaris, aiming right for the orc's waist. However, Blados was able to recover and meet the sword skill head-on with his axe. Marth didn't give up though as after Horizontal ended, he activated Vertical Square with Lunara. He used the first hit to knock Blados's axe away and landed the remaining three on the orc, damaging his armor.

"Switch!" Marth shouted.

A black blur suddenly appeared between the two fighters. Kirito let out a howl as he struck the orc using Horizontal Square with Elucidator before following up with Vertical Square with Dark Repulser.

"Gaahh!" Blados exclaimed as he found himself being knocked back. His armor was in pretty bad shape and his chest and arms were covered in cuts, all of which were oozing black blood. The Curse immediately went to work healing his injuries, but the process was slow. If Kirito and Marth kept inflicting more damage than the Curse could repair, then Blados will surely meet his end here.

Unbeknownst to the opponents, the stone center of the ruins was emitting an eerie aura, more so than the other structures.

"Hmph," Blados grunted. "I've got to admire your teamwork. It really takes me back."

"Glad to hear it," Marth replied.

"I mean it. The only people I've seen with teamwork like yours were the Twilight Hero, Zane, and his best friend."

Marth raised an eyebrow. The name "Zane" sounded familiar to him, along with "Twilight Hero". But where did he hear that before?

"Hold on," Blados realized as he pointed at the Black Swordsman. "You said your name was 'Kirito', right?"

"Yeah," Kirito confirmed. "What about it?"

The orc let out an amused chuckle. "Well, well. So not only am I fighting Zane's reincarnation, a Twilight Remnant, but I'm also facing the reincarnation of his best friend, Kirito. Talk about lucky."

The teens let out a gasp. "What are you talking about?" Kirito questioned.

Blados just smirked. "Oh nothing. Besides, aren't you both on a time limit?"

The Darkness Duo grunted in frustration. Blados was right though. Even if they aren't fighting, the curse was still sapping their strength. Marth and Kirito's swords were starting to feel heavier in their hands and their legs were starting to feel wobbly. Time was running out.

"We've got to block him out," Marth said quickly. "Every second we waste, the weaker we get. Don't let anything distract you."

"Y-yeah," Kirito agreed, but he felt uneasy. Blados had just said that he and Marth were reincarnations of other people. For Marth, he was the reincarnation of Zane, the Twilight Hero. While for Black Swordsman, apparently in his old life he went by the same name he used for his video game avatars.

The whole thing didn't make any sense, until Kirito took into consideration that monsters aren't supposed to exist in real life and yet here he is fighting an orc.

_"Wait a minute,"_ Kirito thought to himself. _"Twilight Remnant… Twilight Hero… Maybe a Twilight Remnant is a term for the reincarnation the Twilight Hero, Zane. If I'm a reincarnation too, do I have a term too? What about the Dawn Remnant? Who's Kuroba the reincarnation of?"_

Kirito shook his head to stop his thoughts. He needed to focus on the battle. He eyed his partner and they wordlessly nodded their heads. When it comes to battle, no words needed to be exchanged between the Darkness Duo.

The dual wielders charged at Blados, who readied his axe to strike. The orc attempted to strike Kirito, only for Marth to intercept, allowing Kirito to slash freely at Blados's chest. Blados then noticed that Marth seemed a little winded, so the orc performed a diagonal swing from right to left aiming to cut right into the Aegis's shoulder, but Kirito appeared before his partner and blocked the attack with his swords.

However, Blados could tell that Kirito was looking just as winded as Marth. It wouldn't be long until their strength was completely gone and give the orc an easy kill. His victory was all but assured.

* * *

Kuroba was running as fast as she could through the streets of Henoko. It was completely quiet save for her loud footsteps on the concrete sidewalk. The streets were also dark, save for the streetlights and the moon.

Kuroba had no idea where she was going. All she knew was to follow her link with Marth and get to him immediately. Her legs screamed for her to take a break, but she kept going, worry and fear pushing the Black King forward.

_"If only I could become my Duel Avatar,"_ Kuroba thought to herself. _"With her speed, I might be able to reach Marth and save him. But I can't."_

Meanwhile Arcanos simply observed the black-haired girl from a nearby rooftop.

"Looks like someone's up after their bedtime," the red-haired demon said. "Looks like I'll have to deal with her myself." Arcanos paused for a moment. "On second thought, this would be a good opportunity to see the Dawn Remnant in action. Let's see how the supposed Black King, the Greatest Traitor in the Accelerated World, can handle monsters in the real world."

Arcanos snapped his fingers, causing a large group of shadowy figures appear in front of Kuroba, who stopped in her tracks.

"What the?" Kuroba questioned aloud.

The figures were humanoid and their bodies were made out of solid darkness. They had no facial features whatsoever nor any intellect. Instead they were just mindless drones loyal to Arcanos. Darkspawns.

Darkspawns were incredibly easy to summon in large numbers, but to compensate they were very weak and easily destroyed. However, darkspawns served as the perfect way to test the skills of potential threats.

"Well now," Arcanos mused to himself as he watched the three dozen darkspawns surround the girl. "What will you do now, Black Lotus?"

Kuroba gritted her teeth as she scanned the area for any potential openings to escape. There weren't any. Fear began to overtake her as her mind flashed back to the time she was cornered by monsters back at the museum eight years ago. Kuroba's body froze, refusing to obey her brain's commands to move, as the darkspawns drew closer.

_"This can't be happening,"_ Kuroba thought to herself as terror filled her eyes. She tried to calm herself, but the fear of her childhood memory refused to go away. _"Not again. Please, not this again!"_

The nearest darkspawn swung its arm at the petrified teen, striking her right in the chest and knocking her flat on her butt. Pain surged through Kuroba's body as she struggled to form a coherent thought that didn't involve fear.

"N-no… Stay away!" Kuroba found herself shouting. The little girl of her past wanted to scream for someone to help her, but there was no one around to come to her aid.

"Hmm," Arcanos mused to himself. "Disappointing. I would have thought the Black King would have more backbone than this. Looks like this Dawn Remnant is nothing more than a little girl."

Finally, Kuroba remembered why she was out here. Marth was in danger and he needed her help. She had been in hundreds of battles in the Accelerated World, whether against Enemies or other Burst Linkers, all with their own varying difficulty. She had fought against the curse that was Chrome Disaster not once, but twice. But that was not all she was…

"I am Black Lotus," Kuroba declared slowly as she forced herself to stand. Her head was hanging low, her eyes hidden from view. "I am one of the Seven Kings of Pure Color, the Black King! The leader of Nega Nebulus. But I'm more than that." Kuroba balled her fists as she began regaining her confidence. Her Core Crystal flared to life, as if responding to her resolve. "I am…"

The first row of darkspawns swung their fists at the girl, prepared to overwhelm her.

Kuroba's eyes flared open, no traces of her childlike fears. The next words that left her lips were full of nothing but pride and courage. And those words were:

"The Aegis's Driver!"

Suddenly a burst of purple light engulfed Kuroba's body. The nearest darkspawns either veered away out of fear or were knocked back by the resulting shockwave. Arcanos could only watch in disbelief as he tried to understand what was happening.

The light soon faded, prompting the darkspawns to resume their attacks. However, before they even had a chance to react, the nearest darkspawns soon found themselves cut to pieces by long black blades before dissolving into shadows. The next four tried to retaliate, only to meet the same fate as their brethren by the black figure.

Arcanos's eyes widened in shock as the figure stepped, or rather, hovered (just a few inches), under a streetlight. The figure had long black hair that flowed down to their waist and a black visor with purple glass that concealed their eyes. The figure's body was feminine and instead of arms and legs, they had long black swords, though it was only the lower parts of both. She had black futuristic armor with what seemed to be purple crystals embedded in parts of her body, along with a bladed skirt. Finally, the figure had a silver x-shaped Core Crystal on her chest.

There was no mistaking it. It was impossible. It was the Black King, Black Lotus, in the real world. (Author's note: Whenever Kuroba's in her Duel Avatar in the real world, she'll be referred by her real name. Also I've decided to refer to her avatar's limbs as swords now. It's just to be more consistent with the light novels.)

"It can't be," Arcanos muttered to himself. "How is this possible? She shouldn't have been able to access her Duel Avatar without the Aegis's Fenrir Effect."

Kuroba looked herself over and was just as confused. "What the?" she said slowly. "How did this happen?"

The darkspawns seemed to be growling at her, likely angry over the deaths of their comrades. They all charged at the Black King with reckless abandon, as if to defeat her with sheer numbers alone.

"Never mind," Kuroba said to herself. "I'll figure this out later."

The Black King readied her swords on her arms, with her right one in front and her left to the side. The first darkspawn reached her jumped into the air, swinging its arms at her while descending. Kuroba easily blocked using the sharp ends of her swords, severing its limbs easily before cutting the creature right down the middle with her right leg sword, doing a backflip as she did so.

The other monsters continued their charge, so Kuroba ran to meet them. It looked like a dance but with swords as she cut through her enemies with ease. She managed to kill three at once with one strike from her left arm sword before killing another three with her right arm sword. Eventually she reduced their numbers so that there was only a dozen of them left, which were all right in front of her.

"Hmm," Kuroba hummed as she got an idea. "Let's try something out."

She charged at the remaining monsters while pulling her right arm back. Suddenly the sword began glowing a bright purple.

"Death By Piercing!" Kuroba shouted.

Kuroba shot past the darkspawns at high speed, sending them all flying into the sky. Like their comrades, the monsters dissolved into shadows before they even touched the ground.

The Black King didn't even try to contain her joy as she cracked a big grin. "Alright! I can't believe that worked," Kuroba said to herself. "But how did I change into Black Lotus? I thought I needed to be exposed to a Fenrir Effect to access my powers in the real world."

Suddenly she looked down at her Core Crystal, which was stilling glowing with silver light. And then it hit her. _"Maybe its because I'm Marth's Driver. I don't need a Fenrir Effect to access my powers, I just need my link with him."_

Kuroba then recoiled in pain as she felt Marth's injuries reflect on her.

_"I've got to hurry,"_ Kuroba thought to herself. _"Marth and Kirito won't last much longer."_

The Black King resumed her sprint to her protégé, but she was moving much faster than she did before thanks to her avatar's speed. Arcanos simply watched as she faded from view.

"Well, that was…interesting," Arcanos said to himself. "So the Dawn Remnant doesn't need a Fenrir Effect to use her powers in this world. This will be useful to know." He chuckled to himself. "But it doesn't matter. Even if she makes it to the boy in time, she'll just die with him. After all, the Shadow Fortress's Curse has other powers at its disposal. Such a shame that Blados won't survive as well."

* * *

Marth, Kirito, and Blados were all covered in injuries and were out of breath. It seems that the Curse of the Destroyers doesn't restore the vitality of monsters, instead only heals their injuries and enhances their strength. However, Blados did find it strange that his wounds were not closing like they were before. Instead, he felt his strength leaving him just like his opponents.

"What the hell?" Blados questioned as he found himself falling to his knees, his lifeblood wetting the grass below him. The dark aura around him faded as well.

Despite the fact that they were enemies, Kirito looked noticeably concerned for the orc. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Something's…wrong," Blados struggled to say. The double-axe felt very heavy in his hands, making it much harder for the orc to hold. "The Curse is…affecting me…too. My strength…is leaving me too." Blados then noticed that all the grass in the area were turning brown, like their life force was being sucked away.

"What?" Kirito said in confusion. Suddenly the Black Swordsman's legs gave out and he collapsed on the ground too, though he was able to bury the tip of Elucidator's edge into the ground to use as a support. However, he had to let go of Dark Repulser, which felt too heavy for his left arm to wield anymore.

"Kirito!" Marth shouted in worry. The blue-eyed swordsman was feeling weaker because of the curse, but for some reason he felt that it wasn't affecting him as much as his partner.

Marth was curious about why that was the case and remembered seeing the black streaks in his blood when Blados injured him with his axe. Those black streaks were definitely new because Marth couldn't remember seeing them at all whenever he got cuts before, but he felt that those streaks were important. It was almost like…he had traces of darkness in his very blood, which seemed to be protecting him from the curse, albeit very weakly.

_"Just what am I?"_ Marth wondered to himself. _"I was born a human, merged with an Aegis Core, and now I've got darkness inside my body. Just what is going on with me?"_

Suddenly the Aegis felt a cold sensation run down his spine. It was his Hypersense warning him about something, something that was behind him. Marth turned around and what he saw made his blood run cold.

The large stone circle that was in the center of the Shadow Fortress Ruins had a massive, malicious aura around it and seemed to be stealing all the color away from the grass. What was truly terrifying about the aura was that it was slowly taking on a humanoid form.

Its body was massive, at least twenty feet tall. Its arms and legs were incredibly bulky and had wickedly sharp curved swords instead of hands that were as long as its forearms. The creature was wearing a purple cloak that covered its entire body, save for its arms for obvious reasons. It also had a hood over its head, hiding most of its features, but Marth could make out two red eyes that were filled with fury underneath.

Marth was rendered speechless at the sight. "Wh-what is that thing?!" the Dark Swordsman exclaimed, his voice filled with fear.

Blados let out a gasp of recognition as he saw the creature with his own eyes. "It can't be," the orc said in shock. "Not that thing. Curse that Arcanos! Was this his plan all along?!"

The Dark Swordsman glanced at the orc over his shoulder. "Do you know what that thing is?"

Blados punched the ground in frustration with his right fist and nodded. "I do. There are rumors that the Curse of the Destroyers has an additional ability," he explained grimly. "By gathering the life force of any living creatures in the area, whether they be human, plant or monster, the Curse shall manifest in its true form and annihilate anything it sees, both enemies and allies."

"Does it have a name?" Kirito questioned. He could feel his strength slowly begin to return to him, but he was still too weak to stand. It seems that if the Curse took on its true form, its draining ability stops working.

"Gandora."

Gandora was slowly approaching the group, with every step making a loud boom as it walked.

Marth unconsciously tightened his grip on his swords. "Can we kill it?"

Blados let out a laugh. "Haha. Only if you've got a death wish. When Gandora appears, it's all over. Nothing can beat it." Blados then paused for a moment as he remembered something. "Actually Zane, the Twilight Hero, and Celine, the Dawn Priestess, were able to kill Gandora but it wasn't easy."

"Zane and Celine?" Marth questioned. "Well, you said that I was Zane's reincarnation, so that means I should be able to kill Gandora too."

"Good luck with that," Blados replied bitterly. "You're called a Twilight _Remnant_ for a reason! Your power is nowhere close to rivalling Zane's and he needed Celine's help to take the Destroyer down. Even if the Dawn Remnant was here, the two of you would still die."

The Dark Swordsman gritted his teeth as his heart pounded rapidly in his chest out of fear. Gandora took another step towards the dual wielder, prompting Marth to unconsciously take a step backward.

_"What am I gonna do?"_ Marth thought. _"Gandora's already drained most of my energy when I was fighting Blados. I don't think I can handle a drawn-out battle with it."_

Contrary to what some people believe, Marth can't use his powers continuously with no drawbacks, whether it was lightning or sword skills. It took ether for him to use his powers, which Marth could obtain by eating or sleeping, and he also had a large reserve of ether stored inside his body because of his Aegis Core Crystal. However, fatigue and being away from his Driver does affect how much of his reserves Marth can tap into. Because of the Shadow Fortress Ruins' curse, a lot of Marth's ether had been leeched away from his body, which is a problem because he not only needs ether to use his powers, he needs ether for his body to even function. If Marth's body either ran out of ether or was super low on it, his body would shut down and he'd fall into a coma, one that he might never wake up from.

Surprisingly, Marth can also draw ether from the air, which doesn't make any sense since there shouldn't be any ether in Earth's atmosphere. Unfortunately, the ether Marth can get from the atmosphere is very low. It would take him hours to restore his reserves, and if Marth fell into a coma, he didn't know if his body would even be able to regain the ether it would have lost.

Suddenly the wolf pendant that Kuroba had given him appeared around his neck, its crystalline eyes glowing with purple light. He could feel the power contained within the shards of the Shadow Crystal within the pendant transferring to his body. It didn't quite restore him to full strength, but it did eliminate most of his fatigue.

_"Thank you, Kuroba,"_ Marth said to himself.

It would take a while for Kirito to recover enough to rejoin the fight, so Marth would have to distract Gandora until his partner was ready. There was also the possibility that Blados would help them, since Gandora will kill the orc too, but it would be risky since Blados could easily attack the duo as soon as the creature was dealt with.

Kirito looked to be trying to force himself to stand by holding Elucidator's hilt with both hands and attempt to prop himself up, prompting Marth to get in front of him. "Don't push yourself, Kirito," Marth said to his partner. "Try to recover enough of your strength and then join the battle. If you try now, you'll die."

The Black Swordsman wanted to argue, but his arms and legs were practically screaming for a rest. He sighed reluctantly and said, "Okay, but be careful. If what Blados said was true, then that thing won't go down easily."

"I know."

Gandora soon got into attack range for the Darkness Duo. It let out a bloodcurdling screech and swung its right scythe downward, attempting to kill them both in one strike. Marth moved like a black blur and intercepted the attack with his swords, however the impact forced him onto one knee and the edge of scythe bit into his shoulder.

"Its…really…strong," Marth struggled to say as he found himself pinned underneath the scythe.

The Dark Swordsman saw that Gandora was preparing to slash at him horizontally with its other scythe. Because Marth couldn't move his swords to attempt to block it, and he couldn't use his Blade ether barrier since that required the use of at least one hand, he had no choice but to use the Wind defense spell, Stormveil.

As Gandora's attack came, a small tornado encircled Marth. Gandora's scythe did manage to break through the wind barrier, but its momentum was slowed down greatly, causing it to only lightly injure Marth's side, but it also sent the swordsman flying into a stone wall.

"Marth!" Kirito shouted in worry as he watched his partner fall to the ground.

Marth did manage to pick himself up and tell the Black Swordsman that he was fine, but he did look a little winded from Gandora's attack. Marth knew that if he attempted to block the attack like that again, he'd be screwed, so he would need to move fast so he could land his attacks.

Luckily, he did have a way of doing that, but it would be a huge gamble. Thanks to his Core Crystal, Marth is able to accelerate his body to the speed of light, but he could only do it in short bursts, and each burst consumes large amounts of ether. Why that it is, he didn't know, but he assumed it was because of his origins.

_"Unfortunately, I might have to do it,"_ Marth thought to himself. _"I just hope this won't kill me."_

Gandora slashed at the Dark Swordsman again with its right scythe, this time diagonally. However, just before the attack reached, Marth disappeared into a silver flash of light before quickly reappearing behind the cloaked monster, his swords outstretched. Abruptly afterward, Gandora found its body covered in several deep gashes and its cloak badly damaged.

"What the?" Blados said in disbelief, but Kirito simply smirked, though he was also concerned since he knew the repercussions of said actions.

Marth let out a strained grunt as he found his body feeling significantly heavier than before. He estimated that with his current reserves, he could probably do about two more "light bursts" before he would be forced to stop to conserve ether.

The Curse of the Destroyers turned around and slashed at the Aegis again, only for Marth to backflip away before accelerating to lightspeed again, delivering several more slashes across Gandora's chest before reappearing on the ground again.

Unfortunately, the burst of power that Marth had received from his pendant began to fade away, allowing exhaustion and fatigue to take their toll on the dual wielder. It was difficult for him to even stand now.

"Not…now…" Marth said with difficulty, trying desperately to stay on his feet.

Because of his dulled senses, Marth failed to see Gandora's attack in time, which was slashing its left scythe diagonally from bottom-left to top right. He attempted to block it with his swords, but his movements were too slow, causing Marth to get a deep cut across his chest and sent flying into a pillar.

"Gaah!" the Dark Swordsman exclaimed in pain before falling to his knees. He had managed to hold onto Lunara, but his grip on Solaris weakened, causing the golden blade to go spinning towards Kirito before clattering on the ground in front of the Black Swordsman.

"Marth!" Kirito shouted. He tried to force himself to his feet, but his legs refused to move.

Blados also found himself feeling worried for the Aegis, though it might have been because if Marth died, then Gandora will turn its focus on the orc.

"It's over," Blados said slowly. "A Twilight Remnant stands no chance against the Destroyer. You put up a good fight, kid, but this battle's over."

The orc then gasped in shock. Marth, who looked very fatigued from the constant battling, had planted Lunara's tip into the ground and had his hands on its hilt, using the sword to hold himself up. The swordsman's head was lowered, so Blados couldn't see his face, but the orc could feel an aura of tenacity from the swordsman. In fact, it reminded Blados about the stories he had heard of Zane.

Marth looked up at Gandora and watched the creature prepare its final attack. However, the Dark Swordsman was too weak to stand, and it took all of his remaining strength just to be in his current position.

_"I'm sorry, Kirito,"_ Marth found himself thinking in regret. _"Look after Meg and Kuroba for me."_

He closed his eyes and braced himself for death, when suddenly a voice rang out, "Death By Barraging!"

The barrier surrounding the ruins was suddenly destroyed, revealing the clear night sky once again. A black blur zoomed across the ruins and intercepted Gandora's attack, making a loud clash echo in the air.

Marth opened his eyes and gasped as he saw a familiar black-haired figure standing in front of him, somehow holding back Gandora's scythes with her swords. "Kuroba!" Marth said in shock. Kirito was equally shocked as well.

"Thank…goodness," Kuroba said with some difficulty. "I…made it…in time. Are you okay, Marth?"

The Dark Swordsman looked away in guilt, but Kuroba couldn't see it because all of her concentration was going into repelling Gandora's scythes, which were trying to overpower her. It was a miracle that she hadn't fallen to her knees from the impact or pressure.

"Why are you here?" Marth questioned.

"Do you really have to ask that?!" Kuroba exclaimed. "I'm your Driver, and we share a core. I sensed that you were in danger so I ran here as fast as I could." The Black King glared daggers at Gandora. "You! I won't let you hurt Marth anymore! He's my partner, and the person I love. If you want him, then you'll have to get past me first!"

Marth let out a gasp as he realized that he had been in this situation before. His mind flashed to when the shadowy figures ambushed him and his family in the park; how his parents sacrificed themselves so that he and Meg could get away; how when the siblings were cornered by their assailants and Marth tried to fight back but was easily overpowered; and how a lone female dressed in black came to his rescue and defeated them all.

"Kuroba," Marth said in awe, his eyes slowly watering.

Kuroba let out a strained grunt before she focused her mind. "Overdrive! Mode Blue!" Suddenly the partition lines in her armor began emitting a blue light. Kuroba could feel strain on her arm swords weaken and she somehow managed to parry the scythe away.

"No way!" Kirito and Blados shouted in shock.

Gandora let out a bloodcurdling screech that vibrated the air. It then swung its left scythe at Kuroba's waist, only for the Black King to deflect it as well with her arm swords. Kuroba then pulled her right arm sword back, causing the blade to glow with a crimson red.

Marth instantly recognized the skill. A one-handed sword skill that he had used countless times before. Vorpal Strike. The Dark Swordsman could only watch as his guardian used the momentum of the one-hit sword skill to propel herself forward and stab the cloaked monster in the chest. However as soon as Kuroba pulled her sword out, the post-motion delay immediately kicked in, allowing Gandora to slash at her waist, damaging parts of her skirt and sent the Black King flying into a pillar, shattering it.

"Kuroba!" Marth shouted in worry before he recoiled in pain as his Driver's injuries reflected on him. He wanted to run to her, but he just couldn't find the strength to stand up.

Surprisingly, Kuroba managed to get back up, but her visor cracked and snapped off, revealing her face. The visor also dissolved into purple light just before it would have touched the ground.

"Ngh… Is that the best you can do?" Kuroba taunted as she put on a brave face. "I'm just getting started."

Gandora simply screeched before it charged at the Black King.

"No, Kuroba! Get out of here!" Marth shouted desperately.

"No way," Kuroba said firmly as she back flipped to avoid a horizontal slash while countering by slashing Gandora's waist with her leg swords. "I am your Driver! Your battles are my battles! No matter what happens, I'll always stand by your side, _partner_!"

Marth let out a gasp as he was reminded of his guardian's speech during the battle with Chrome Disaster. However, the stakes in this battle were much higher since this was the real world and there aren't any respawn points in real life. Kuroba was doing well so far, but eventually Gandora will overpower her and kill her.

_"No!"_ Marth thought in his head as he tightened his grip on Lunara. _"I can't lose another person I love again. But what can I do? I'm just as powerless as I was back when Yuuki died."_

_Will you stop beating yourself up like this?!_

Suddenly Marth's head flared with pain, almost like it was being split in half. His Core Crystal was also glowing with silver light. It was that same voice that he heard back in the hospital several months ago. However, if Marth wasn't lost in his own despair, he would've realized that he had heard that voice during the last day of the Demon War, right before he lost control of his powers.

_Kuroba is risking her life to save you and you're just sulking in the dirt. If you don't help her, she'll die! Do you really want that to happen?_

_"Of course not,"_ Marth argued quickly, trying his best to suppress the pain. _"But do I even deserve to be saved? All I do is bring pain and misery to those close to me. Maybe it would be better for everyone if I disappeared."_

_Don't you dare say that!_ The voice was practically booming inside the Aegis's head. _You can't change the past. All you can do is move forward. You need to live… Live for those who aren't around anymore. Honor their memory and fight!_

Marth let out a grunt as he thought it over. The voice, whoever it was, was right. He couldn't keep wallowing in the past. It would just hold him back. He noticed that Kuroba was barely being able to avoid Gandora's attacks and was starting to look a little sluggish with her movements. She couldn't last much longer. Marth had to do something quickly, or he would lose yet another person he loved. He couldn't let that happen. Not again.

"No more," Marth murmured to himself. A silver aura suddenly flared to life around him and the pain in his head lessened. "No more." Feeling was returning to Marth's limbs and he slowly began to rise up. "No mooore!" he shouted as loud as he could.

_Smart choice._ The voice seemed pleased at Marth's actions. _Now go!_

Marth pulled Lunara back, activating Vorpal Strike. His eyes were now a sterling silver. "Raaaaah!" the Dark Swordsman bellowed as he charged at Gandora at high-speed.

The collision was akin to a meteor hitting the ground as Gandora was sent flying into a ruined wall.

"Impossible!" Blados shouted in shock.

Kirito was rendered speechless as he watched his partner land effortlessly in front of Kuroba, who looked just as shocked.

"Marth," the Black Swordsman muttered in concern. He had seen that display of power before, right during the final battle with Zarc. That time, the energy coming off of Marth was chaotic and out of control, which also completely immobilized Kirito. But this time, the aura around the Aegis was much tamer and Kuroba was still able to move freely. However, he didn't know how long that would last.

_"I won't let him lose control again,"_ Kirito thought quickly. _"I refuse to fail Marth again!"_ His gaze lowered to Solaris, which laid right in front of him and had a silver aura around it as well.

"Marth," Kuroba said slowly. "Are you…?"

The Dark Swordsman glanced at her and simply smiled, signaling that he was alright, which filled Kuroba with relief. She was worried that Marth had lost control of his powers again, but it wasn't the case at all. In fact, it felt like someone was making sure Marth's powers _wouldn't_ become chaotic. But she was confused as to why his eyes were silver, but she decided to ask about it later.

The duo noticed Gandora slowly pick itself back up and readied for the fight ahead. However, Marth and Kuroba immediately felt a surge of pain in their chests, or more specifically, their Core Crystals.

"What's…happening?" Kuroba asked with difficulty as she found it hard to stand.

"I don't…know," Marth answered. Suddenly he felt a connection flare to life inside him. It was one that felt very familiar to the Aegis, one that he thought he would never feel again. The connection was weak, but it was slowly gaining in strength.

"Kiri…to," Marth said in a strained voice. Kuroba also felt it as well and was naturally confused.

The Dark Swordsman and Black King turned and saw Kirito slowly making his way towards them. Dark Repulser was in its scabbard on his back while he held Elucidator in his right hand. However, what was truly shocking was that in Kirito's left hand was Solaris, which was flashing violently as it rejected the Black Swordsman.

"Kirito…what are…you doing?" Kuroba questioned. "You know that…Lunara and Solaris…won't let you…wield them."

Kirito's body practically screamed in pain, begging him to let go of the golden blade, but Kirito refused to do so. "I don't care," the Black Swordsman said fiercely. "I let my best friend down when he needed me the most and Yuuki died because of it. I won't let that happen again!"

"Kirito," Marth said in awe before nodding his head. "Alright. We're in this together, the three of us. We're all…partners!"

"Yeah!" Kirito and Kuroba agreed.

Suddenly a silver aura appeared around Kuroba and Kirito. The latter no longer felt any resistance from Solaris as it stopped flashing and instead felt a new surge of power course through his body. He also could sense a two-way connection between the Aegis and the Black King. It was a resonance!

"What the?" Kirito asked in disbelief as the aura around him and Kuroba dissipated. "What just happened?"

"I think," Kuroba replied, no longer feeling any pain in her chest, "you just restored your resonance with Marth. But how is that possible?"

"Well, Aegises don't really follow the same rules as other Blades," Marth explained to the best of his ability, but he was just as confused as well. "Maybe it's possible that they can have multiple Drivers at once or maybe I'm just a special case."

"Uh, a little help!"

The trio turned and saw Blados desperately trying to avoid getting slashed by Gandora's scythes by either blocking them with his axe or dodging. Apparently, the cloaked monster had decided to attack the downed orc rather than the distracted teens.

"We'll discuss this later," Kuroba said with authority. "Right now we've got a battle to finish. Marth, can you handle supporting two Drivers at once?"

"With this surge of power, I should be able to," Marth answered as he eyed his left hand and balled it into a fist. "In fact, I feel better than ever. It's like this is how it's meant to be. We might even be able to do things that we never could before."

"Cool," Kirito said eagerly before readying his swords. "Now then. Let's go!"

"Right!"

Kirito and Kuroba charged at Gandora while Marth supplied power to them, with Lunara was in its scabbard. Kirito easily deflected a downward slash from Gandora with his swords, which saved Blados from being cut in half.

"Switch!" Kirito shouted.

Kuroba moved in and unleashed the seven-hit skill Deadly Sins, highly damaging the cloaked monster. Gandora attempted to strike the black-haired girl during her post-motion delay by slashing at her left side, only for its attack to be blocked by Kirito. It screeched in rage and tried again, this time from the right, but it was blocked again. This time, by Marth's defense barrier.

"I say it's high time we finish this," Marth said fiercely.

"Yeah," Kuroba agreed. "Let's show this thing what we're really made of!"

Suddenly the Drivers and Aegis saw the vision of a new move appear in their minds. The trio eyed each other and nodded.

They brought their right swords together and exclaimed, "Millennium Twilight!"

A black aura appeared around the Drivers before they and Marth charged at Gandora. They landed multiple high-speed slashes on the monster before they jumped high into the air. Marth, Kirito and Kuroba then swung their swords downward, unleashing beams of lightning, darkness and purple light which merged into one attack and collided with Gandora, who attempted to block with its scythes. The merged attack easily broke through and consumed Gandora, resulting in an explosion of light and shadow that shook the ground fiercely.

When the explosion dissipated, Marth and his Drivers landed back on the ground, the former's aura finally fading and his eyes regaining their usual blue. They looked around and saw that most of the Shadow Fortress ruins were completely decimated. Blados, on the other hand, was sitting flat on his butt with his jaw hanging in disbelief.

"Did we…do this?" Marth questioned, stunned at the display of power he and his partners just performed.

"I…think so," Kirito replied as he returned Solaris to its rightful owner before sheathing Elucidator. Kuroba reverted her arm swords into hands. "It's over now."

"Thank…goodness," Marth said slowly before he fell over backwards. Luckily Kuroba was able to catch him, but Lunara and Solaris simply disappeared.

"Marth!" she shouted in worry. However, her concern decreased a little as Marth had simply passed out.

"Someone's exhausted," Kirito commented. "But I can't blame him. Supporting two Drivers at once can't be easy on him, especially after an exhausting battle."

"Will he…wake up?" Kuroba questioned. As Marth's Driver, Kuroba was aware of the dangers of Marth overexerting his powers and was worried that the battle with Gandora was too much of a strain for the Aegis.

Kirito put his right hand on Marth's Core and closed his eyes, focusing on his link with the Dark Swordsman. "He's okay. Just blacked out. He should wake up in a few hours or so."

Kuroba released the breath she didn't know she was holding. Suddenly she and her fellow Driver heard something approach them. Kirito immediately got in front of her and reached for his swords as they saw Blados draw closer. Curiously, his axe was strapped to his back and his hands were held up in surrender.

"Relax," the orc said finally. "I have no intention of fighting you, at least for the moment. It would be dishonorable to attack you two and your downed comrade after winning such an impossible battle."

"So what now?" Kirito questioned, his hands not leaving the hilts of his swords.

"I shall withdraw for now. I hope the next time we meet, you'll give me a battle I'll never forget." A magic circle appeared below Blados before he disappeared, leaving the teens alone in the destroyed ruins.

"And here I thought monsters didn't have honor," Kuroba said. "Now what?"

"Now, we go back to the hotel," Kirito replied. "But that's gonna be such a pain. We're miles away from town and we'll have to carry Marth along the way."

Kuroba simply chuckled. "Well, we better get started or it'll be morning before we know it."

Kirito let out a sigh and was about to help Kuroba up when suddenly Marth's Core Crystal lit up without warning. A silver portal then appeared below their feet, sucking them in. They both screamed as they fell, though Marth was still out cold. The next thing Kirito and Kuroba knew, they were inside the former's hotel room.

"What just…happened?" Kuroba questioned in shock.

"We teleported," Kirito realized. "Marth has the ability to create portals to other worlds. Looks like he can make portals that can transport people across our world too."

"But he's unconscious," Kuroba argued. "There's no way he could have made that portal."

Suddenly a strange thought appeared in Kirito's head and it involved Marth's two mysterious power spikes. When the Dark Swordsman wakes up, Kirito had a few things he needed to ask him.

* * *

**A few hours later**

"Ngh."

Marth slowly opened his eyes and found himself lying on his hotel bed. He was still in his SAO appearance, but his swords and scabbards were missing. Marth was confused as to how he got there. The last thing he remembered fighting Gandora and killing it with Kirito and Kuroba, his Drivers with their joint attack. Abruptly, Marth's eyes widened in worry.

"Kirito! Kuroba!" he exclaimed as he quickly sat up.

"Finally up, I see."

Marth turned to his right and saw none other than Kazuto sitting on his own bed with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Kazuto? Where's…"

The black-eyed teen raised his hand to silence his partner before pointing at the bed. Marth lowered his head and sure enough, sitting on a chair with her head lying on the mattress was Kuroba (in her regular appearance), blissfully sleeping.

"I tried to get her to leave so we wouldn't get in trouble, but she wouldn't have it," Kazuto explained. "She insisted on staying here until you woke up."

"Is that so?" Marth suppressed a chuckle. He brushed his hand against Kuroba's cheek, who promptly began to stir.

"Mmm. Morning already," Kuroba said as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. She turned towards her protégé before forming a big grin. "Marth! You're awake!"

Kuroba quickly tackled Marth into a hug. "Thank goodness. You really need to stop scaring me like that," she continued as tears leaked from her eyes. "If something happened to you… I…I don't know what I'd do."

Marth found himself smiling before returning the embrace. "I'm sorry, Kuroba, I mean it. Anyway, there's something I want to tell you."

The Black King pulled herself away from the male teen and eyed him expectantly. "What is it?"

"I've decided that I won't let the past hold me back anymore. Even without knowing it, I've been blaming myself for Yuuki's death for years and used it as an excuse to not find love. But no more. It's high time that I stop denying what has been in my heart for months now."

"And that is?" Kuroba asked slowly, daring to not get her hopes up.

"Isn't it obvious? I love you, Kuroba."

Words could not convey the happiness that Kuroba felt as tears of joy ran down her face. Finally, after months of trying, Marth had finally opened his heart to her. Kuroba leaned her head forward for a kiss and was met halfway by Marth. Fireworks went off in her head as their lips made contact.

"It's about time," Kazuto murmured to himself.

After a few seconds, Marth and Kuroba separated. Marth then found himself looking out to the porch where he saw the translucent image of Yuuki smiling at him.

_Take care, Marth,_ she seemed to be saying. _Remember that I'll always be with you._ The Absolute Sword then disappeared into the night.

"Is something wrong?" Kuroba asked suddenly.

Marth realized that there were tears leaking from his eyes but he simply smiled and said he was fine. In fact, he could feel all his regrets from the Demon War fade away like the mist in a meadow.

**To be continued**

* * *

**And so the Dark Swordsman finally forgives himself. And finally, Marth and Kuroba are together at last. This was a chapter that I couldn't wait to write for months and I'm so glad its finally done. Believe it or not, this chapter is pretty different from what I originally planned it would be but it might be better for it. Anyway, I bet you're all wondering how on Earth Marth can have two Drivers at once. Well, you'll just have to wait for the next chapter to find out. See you guys next time!**


	21. Frank's True Nature

**April 15th, 2057**

It was a sunny afternoon with hardly a cloud in the sky. Frank was standing by the front desk in the hotel's lobby. He was wearing a short-sleeved black t-shirt, shorts, white socks and black tennis shoes. He also had a navy-blue drawstring bag that had a surfing shirt, swimming trunks, swim shoes (all of which were black), and a beach towel. He seemed to be waiting for someone as he messed around with his Neurolinker.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

Frank turned his head and smiled when he saw a familiar black-haired girl approach him. The girl was wearing a black t-shirt with a v-shaped collar, shorts and sandals. Underneath that was most likely a swimsuit. She was also carrying a small bag that had a beach towel in it. She also had a silver bracelet that had a purple sword charm on her right wrist.

"Nah, I just got here myself," Frank replied. "You ready to go?"

"Yes!" Kuroba nodded eagerly. Today was the day she finally gets her wish, going out with the boy she adored, just the two of them. Her heart was still in overdrive from the event that occurred early this morning. Frank had _finally_ opened his heart to her just as she did for him eight months ago when Araya tried to ram them with a car, and she used the Physical Full Burst command, a command that can only be used by a level 9 Burst Linker, to save her protégé.

They still needed to tell Asuna about the incident at the ruins last night, but Kazuto said he'll handle it, to which Frank teasingly replied with "It was nice knowing you," since the Lightning Flash would _not_ be happy to hear that her friends knowingly went into a trap without telling her. In fact, Kuroba could already picture Asuna screaming at the Black Swordsman for his reckless behavior.

Frank offered his arm to her, which Kuroba gladly accepted as she wrapped both her arms around it and let him lead her out of the lobby, all the while having the biggest smile she could muster.

"So where are we going?" Kuroba questioned as the newly formed couple wandered down the crowded streets. "I brought my swimsuit and a towel in case we decided to go swimming."

"I did too, but let's save that for later. Let's just wander around for a while."

Kuroba couldn't help but hug her protégé's arm close to her body. "As long as we're together, I don't mind."

The couple went into the market street and admired all the different shopping booths and tourists going about their day unaware of what transpired last night. Kuroba would be lying if she said that she wanted to discuss what happened, but when Frank asked her on a date this morning, she decided to save it for later and to simply enjoy herself.

Megumi was aware of this date, but she didn't protest it, which Kuroba found surprising. Recently Megumi has been rather hostile when it came to Kuroba's relationship with Frank, but ever since the battle with Sulfur Pot, Megumi has been very lenient. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for most of the other seniors, as she noticed that aside from Kazuto and Asuna, most of the seniors seemed disgusted that she would give her heart to the Freak of Umesato High School.

But they could all burn in hell for all Kuroba cared. They didn't know Frank like she did. He didn't like being the center of attention nor did he view himself as a hero. He preferred staying in the shadows and supporting his friends. He never seeks things for personal gain nor overextends his boundaries. He was like darkness, but not in an evil way, but rather in a soothing way, like the night sky. Actually, now that she thought about it, that same description could apply to Kazuto. Kuroba couldn't help but giggle from the similarities to her boyfriend and her partner Driver.

"What's so funny?" Frank questioned.

Kuroba simply smirked. "Nothing. Just enjoying being in your company."

Frank could only shake his head in amusement.

"So where to now?" Kuroba asked.

"Hmmm…"

* * *

Arcanos was near the center of the destroyed ruins of the Shadow Fortress. He couldn't help but be amazed as he eyed the large crater in front of him, which was where Gandora had appeared from. He had seen the battle that took place here through the eyes of a familiar and even now, he still had a hard time accepting what he saw.

"To think that the Dark Swordsman and his human friends could be this powerful," the red-haired demon said in disbelief. "And it looks like he restored his resonance with that boy, Kirito. But how can that be? Even an Aegis can only have one Driv…er…" Arcanos's tone gradually slowed down until it stopped as he began thinking about Marth's origins.

"Wait… Marth was born a human and merged with an Aegis Core. Does that mean…he's not a _true_ Aegis?"

Arcanos's thoughts came to a halt when he noticed some red spots on the dried-up grass. He knelt down and dabbed his right fingertips into the red liquid before bringing it close to his face. It was blood, human blood to be exact, however he also noticed that it contained black streaks within it. The blood was radiating a power that the demon was all too familiar with. Darkness.

Arcanos found himself sneering before cackling like a mad man. "Ahahaha! Truly Lord Zeta smiles upon me this day! Gandora may have failed to kill the Twilight Remnant and the Night Remnant, but it's defeat has given me something grand. The blood…of the Twilight Hero himself."

* * *

"What were you thinking?!" Asuna shouted angrily in her boyfriend's hotel room after hearing what went down at the ruins. "Why didn't you tell me that you and Marth were going to those ruins last night?! I could've helped you!"

Kazuto reeled back in fear, trying his best to keep his tone calm. He held up his hands in defense, but his eyes were filled with guilt. "I'm sorry, Asuna. I…we…felt that we put you and the others in enough danger. Frank and I went so that you guys would be safe." He lowered his head in shame. "Actually, the reason I went was so I could make up for my failure from the Demon War. I _refused_ to fail my best friend again."

"Kirito." Asuna's anger quickly dissipated and was replaced with sorrow. "You're still beating yourself up for Yuuki's death?"

Kazuto lowered his hands and simply nodded. "Yeah. I just don't want to make the same mistake and cause the death of another friend. But…I think I'm slowly overcoming it. And it's all thanks to Frank and Kuroba."

"What do you mean?" Asuna questioned.

"During the Demon War, Frank and I felt incomplete when it came to our resonance as Driver and Blade," Kazuto explained, his tone growing more confident by the second. "That might have been why Frank lost control of his powers back then. But now that my resonance with him has been restored, we might be able to prevent the past from repeating itself."

"Wait, what?!" Asuna shouted in shock. "You're Marth's Driver again?!"

"Yeah and Kuroba is too. Kind of weird though. I never would've imagined even an Aegis having multiple Drivers at once."

This time Asuna lowered her head in shame. There was something that she kept close to her heart, something that involved Frank's true nature. It was something she had learned in Alrest and meant to bring up when she and her friends returned to their world, but the Demon War made it too difficult for her to find time to tell Marth and Kirito about it. It was something that she had remembered eight months ago, but has still kept silent about as Asuna was afraid of their reactions. But now, she knew she had to tell them.

"Kirito, where are Marth and Kuroba?" Asuna questioned.

Kazuto was surprised by the question but simply answered, "Right now they're in the middle of a date. Why?"

Asuna gripped her left arm nervously. "Crap. There's something I need to tell you all, but I don't want to ruin their date."

"What's this about?" Kazuto had never seen his girlfriend this uneasy before. It was kind of worrying. "I'm sure they'll understand."

The chestnut-haired girl just shook her head. "No, they'll hate me for this. And so will you…"

* * *

Frank and Kuroba were having lunch in a café, with the former telling the latter more of his past via cable link.

_"So after we killed Thrymr, me and the Alfheim Warriors went to the final floor of Thrymheim,"_ Frank finished. _"And that's where we found the Holy Sword Excalibur and the Radiant Blade Solaris. After Kazuto and I pulled them out, Thrymheim began collapsing and we all began falling into the abyss. Luckily Tonky was able to save us but Kirito and I had to throw Excalibur and Solaris away since there was no way we could jump while carrying them. But then Sinon decided to show off by using two retrieval arrows and got them back for us. I am pretty grateful for that though."_

_"Wow,"_ Kuroba said in awe. _"That's how you got Solaris? And here I thought you originally got it as a drop from a raid boss in New Aincrad. Do you have any idea what your swords are made of? From the way they shine, they seem to be made of metal, but that just doesn't feel right."_

_"Hmm…"_ Frank folded his arms as he scoured his memory for the answer. _"Well, earlier today, Kazuto told me about the vision he had when he tried wielding Lunara back in Tokyo. If that vision is true, then Lunara and Solaris were originally one sword and I think the material for it came from a dragon."_

_"A dragon?"_ Kuroba questioned. _"Like maybe its bones or something?"_

_"Ehhh, I don't think so,"_ Frank replied, though his girlfriend's remark did remind him of certain weapons from a video game that she gave him for Christmas. _"If I had to guess, I'd say the original sword was created from a dragon's fang and probably infused with light and shadow."_

_"Okay, what makes you think that the sword was infused with light and shadow? Wouldn't they cancel each other out or something?"_

_"Hard to say, really,"_ Frank said as he held his chin with his hand. _"I guess its because Lunara is a sword of darkness and Solaris is a sword of light. As for your other question, I don't really have an explanation for."_

_"I see."_ Kuroba took a sip from her tea before she got a notification from Asuna. Frank also saw the notification because of the cable cord connecting his and Kuroba's Neurolinkers.

_"I wonder what Asuna wants,"_ Frank said.

_"Let's see."_ Kuroba opened Asuna's message and read it in her head. _" 'Hey, Kuroba, can you and Marth come back to the hotel? I know that you two are in the middle of a date, but there's something I need to tell you both. I'll be in Marth and Kirito's room.'"_

Frank couldn't help but feel uneasy. _"That's weird. What could Asuna want to tell us?"_

_"I don't know,"_ Kuroba replied. _"But it must be really important if she's interrupting our date because of it. I swear we never catch a break."_

Frank reached over and took the amber-eyed girl's hand into his own. _"Don't worry about it. Once we finish meeting with Asuna, we can go back to relaxing. It could be something minor."_

Kuroba cracked a light smile. _"Thanks, Frank."_

The teens hurried to finish up their meal before paying for it via their Neurolinkers. After that, they began making their way back to the hotel.

* * *

**Later**

When Frank and Kuroba arrived in the former's hotel room, they were greeted by a sorrowful Asuna and a confused Kazuto. Asuna was sitting on her boyfriend's bed while Kazuto was standing.

"Sorry if we kept you guys waiting," Frank said. "So what did you want to tell us, Asuna?"

"That's what I'd like to know too," Kazuto added.

Asuna looked a little hesitant so Frank and Kuroba decided to sit on the bed in front of the Lightning Flash and wait for her to answer.

"Th-there's something I should have told you about," Asuna slowly explained. She locked eyes with the Black Wolf player. "Especially you, Marth. This might be a shock to you and I won't blame you if you hate me for this."

Frank got an eerie sense of déjà vu as he recalled being in a similar situation during the Demon War. "What is it?"

"Marth… you're not an Aegis."

The other teens gasped in shock.

"What are you talking about, Asuna?" Kazuto questioned. "What do you mean Frank's not an Aegis? He's got an Aegis Core Crystal in his chest."

Asuna grabbed the hem of her skirt and clenched her hands so tightly, her fingertips turned white. "But he didn't have it originally remember? That's just what Klaus called him."

"Who's Klaus?" Kuroba asked.

Frank paused for a moment before answering, the memories slowly coming back to him. "He's the guy who gave me my powers to begin with." He brought his hand to his Core, which seemed to be pulsing. "This Core Crystal was originally known as Fenrir. Apparently because of Klaus's interference, part of Fenrir's code got sent across space and time before colliding with my soul long before I was born. It didn't give me the full abilities of a Blade, but I did have a rapid healing ability. When he came to me for help, he said that I was an Aegis instead of a human."

"Well Klaus was wrong," Asuna continued. "You were never an Aegis, Marth. You couldn't be. Blades originate from Core Crystals, but you came into existence just like any other human."

"If I'm not an Aegis, then what am I?"

Asuna paused for a brief second, reluctant to answer. "A Blade Eater."

"A Blade Eater?" Frank questioned, puzzled.

"Yes. A human with a Core Crystal implanted in their bodies. That's what you are, Marth."

Frank was floored at what he just heard. He couldn't bring himself to speak, so Kazuto asked in his stead, "How do you know this?"

Asuna released her hold on her skirt and lowered her head. "Mikhail, the man we met back in Mor Ardain. He's the one who told me."

* * *

**Flashback- Fonsett Village, a few days before the Demon War**

Mikhail led the Undine (Asuna was in her ALO form) to the outskirts of the village, towards the cliffs that overlooked the new ocean. Apparently, he wanted to tell her something and he didn't want to be overheard.

"What's this about?" the Undine questioned.

The blonde Blade Eater stopped when he felt that they were far enough away to avoid eavesdroppers. "Listen, I know this is gonna sound crazy," Mikhail started to say, "but I don't think Marth is an Aegis."

Asuna was naturally taken aback by this. "What are you talking about? Klaus said that…"

Mikhail raised his right hand to stop her. "Whoever said that was wrong," he interrupted. "From what you guys have told me on how Marth merged with that core, he can't be a Blade, much less an Aegis. I believe Marth is actually a Blade Eater, a human implanted with a Core Crystal, like me."

"Are you serious?" Asuna asked in shock.

The Blade Eater nodded in confirmation. "Trust me. I know a Blade Eater when I see one. Marth's definitely one of my kind. The thing is, he's lucky to be alive. Very few people can survive the procedure of having a full regular Core Crystal being implanted into their bodies. Imagine the strain of fusing with an Aegis Core of all things."

The Undine was floored at what she heard. "So what does that mean about Marth?" she asked, feeling worried for her friend.

"Well, like me, he probably won't revert into a Core Crystal if he dies," Mikhail guessed. "And he doesn't need a Driver to use his full power, but his powers will be enhanced if he has one. He might even have some other unique abilities too."

"I see," Asuna replied.

"One more thing," the Blade Eater added, folding his arms. "Keep a close eye on your friend. From what I've heard from Jin, it seems like Aegis Core Crystals have their own consciousnesses inside them, their original ones. Malos was Logos, while Mythra and Pyra are Pneuma now."

Asuna suddenly found herself feeling worried. "W-what are you saying, Mikhail?"

"Marth might have a different person inside him now. The original personality of the Silver Aegis Core Crystal."

* * *

**Present Day**

It was silent in the hotel room. No one had the courage to speak, especially Asuna, who looked incredibly guilty for keeping this secret for so long.

"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" Kazuto asked finally.

Asuna couldn't bring herself to even look at her boyfriend. "I wanted to tell you and Marth after we went home, but then the Demon War happened. I was worried that if I told you then, it would freak you guys out, especially Marth. I almost forgot about it myself until Yuuki died. After that, I ended up losing my memories like the other Alfheim Warriors and when I remembered, I just couldn't bring myself to tell you." The Lightning Flash's eyes began to water with tears. "If anyone is to be blamed for Yuuki's death, it's me."

The Argent Flash player began to sob until she felt someone gently grab her hand. When she looked up, it was none other than Frank.

"I'm sorry that you had to carry this for so long, Asuna," Frank said slowly, his eyes full of understanding. "I know better than anyone how much guilt can weigh you down."

"Marth…" Asuna muttered in awe.

"In fact, there's something I need to tell all of you," Frank continued, turning his body so he could face all his friends. "During the final battle with Zarc, after Dark Siren began to attack the city, I heard a voice in my head."

"A voice?" Kuroba said in disbelief.

Frank nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. It wanted revenge for what Zarc did and…I think it tried to take me over. Because of my emotional state at the time, the possession must have failed, and it caused my powers to go out of control."

Kazuto let out a gasp. "Are you saying that voice is the reason you lost control during the Demon War?!"

"I think so. The thing is…that wasn't the only time I heard that voice. I've heard it two times after that. First at the hospital after Kuroba saved me from Araya, and the second time was last night."

"No way," Kuroba said, trying to recover from the shock. "Did it try to take you over again."

Frank shook his head. "No. It felt like it was trying to help me during those times. I think it was responsible for transferring half of my core to save your life, Kuroba. It's possible he might be friendly."

Kazuto folded his arms. "I think it's clear who this voice is," he said firmly, causing everyone to face him. "It's Fenrir, the original personality of the Silver Aegis Core."

The others silently agreed.

"But how did he awaken?" Asuna wondered.

"He probably started stirring as soon as Frank merged with his Core Crystal, hiding deep within Frank's subconscious," Kuroba theorized. "In fact, he probably used Frank as a basis for his personality, but that's purely speculation. Your battle with Zarc must have prompted him to take control of Frank's body but it ended up backfiring for everyone. After that, Fenrir must have retreated back into the corners of Frank's mind, or their Core Crystal, hard to say which. Maybe he's trying to make amends for what he did."

"How do we know if he even is trying to make amends?" Kazuto questioned. "Personally, I hope he stays gone. He's done enough damage already."

"It's hard to say," Frank replied. "I've tried to reach out to him a few times after those incidents, but he never answers. I don't think he can stay conscious for very long. He only really talks to me during certain circumstances."

Kuroba held her chin in her hand. "Then it's possible that Fenrir isn't fully awake. I bet there is a way to do that, but I'm not sure if we should try. We need more information to make sure he's no threat, especially to Frank."

"Agreed," Kazuto replied. "Frank, let us know if Fenrir tries to contact you again."

"You got it."

Asuna promptly let out a sigh in relief. "I'm so glad I finally got that off my chest. So how about we finally enjoy our vacation?"

"I'm all for that," Kuroba agreed. "Since we're all together, how about we go on a double date?"

"That's a great idea, Kuroba!" Asuna said in excitement. "What do you think, Kirito?"

Kazuto simply shrugged. "Sure. I've got nothing planned for today."

"I'm in too," Frank added.

* * *

**Later**

After a debate on where to go, the quartet decided to go to the beach. Neither Frank or Kazuto were fans of the beach, but they felt that the girls deserved it, especially after the boys' reckless decision of willingly going into an enemy trap without telling them.

When they arrived, the boys decided to rough house in the water while the girls watched in amusement from beach chairs while under the shade of a large umbrella.

"Those two never change," Asuna said with a light smile. She was wearing the same white bikini from before. "It's almost reassuring."

"Yeah," Kuroba agreed, noticing the childish smiles on her partners' faces. "I think they both look a lot happier now."

"They do. The weight of the past is finally disappearing from their shoulders," Asuna said. "If you ask me, I think Kirito was able to restore his resonance with Marth because of their unbreakable bond."

Kuroba nodded her head in agreement. "I believe it. Kazuto did tell me that his resonance with Frank wasn't as severed as he initially thought. Maybe Frank has the ability to restore broken resonances with Drivers he shares a powerful bond with. By that criteria, Kazuto is the only person Frank can do that with."

"Don't sell yourself short," Asuna said cheerfully. "I'd say that the bond between you and Marth is just as strong as the one he has with Kirito."

Kuroba couldn't help but smile. "I hope so," the Black King said. "I'll do whatever it takes to protect Frank and I know he'll do the same for me."

Suddenly the Black King felt a brief gust of wind brush against her face. Her hair also flapped against the quick breeze. Kuroba then eyed her protégé, who had a mischievous grin on his face, along with Kazuto as the boys stood in the ocean water, the tide just covering their knees.

"You trying to say something?" Kuroba asked in mock annoyance.

Frank simply shrugged. "I just wanted to get your attention. It was either wind or lightning and I'd rather not get hurt from my own abilities."

Kuroba cracked a light grin. "I guess I do have some perks sharing your core after all." She turned towards Asuna who moved her head as if to say 'go'. The amber-eyed girl chuckled before saying, "Move over. I'm coming too!" Kuroba rose out of her chair, removed her shoes before sprinting towards her partners.

"We might be finished," Kazuto joked. "Now we gotta deal with the Black King!"

"You got that right!"

Asuna watched her friends with pride from her beach chair as they splashed the clear blue sea water at each other, all the while laughing like there was no tomorrow. The Argent Flash player also took into account Frank's enthusiasm, a far cry from his usual reserved self. It made her happy to see one of her childhood friends finally enjoying himself, unburdened by the past.

"You're watching this, aren't you?" Asuna said quietly to herself before gazing up at the clear sky. "Yuuki."

Another breeze blew across the beach, catching the ends of Asuna's hair, but it wasn't from Frank. For the briefest of moments, she heard a familiar voice say:

_Take care, Asuna._

The Lightning Flash could only smile as she easily recognized the voice.

* * *

**April 18th, 2057**

Kuroba, Frank, Kazuto and Asuna were in one of the two buses that were to take them back to the airport. They were all dressed in casual wear and were talking to each other via cable link for some privacy.

_"Well I certainly had fun during our little excursion,"_ Kuroba mused. _"We sure made good use of our remaining time here."_

_"Yeah,"_ Asuna agreed. _"I can't wait to tell Sinon and the others about all the places we saw and restaurants we've been to."_

_"Don't forget we also need to tell them about Sulfur Pot and his allies,"_ Kazuto added. _"I hope everyone's okay."_

Frank simply chuckled. _"Relax, Kazuto. I'm sure everyone's fine. Look, I'll message them right now."_

Since the vacation trip was basically over, the Umesato students are free to contact their school friends. The Blade Eater typed a quick message to his sister, asking how's she's been and if she's okay.

It took a few minutes for him to get a reply, which he immediately opened up and read quietly to himself.

_"Oh no,"_ Frank said in shock.

_"What's wrong?"_ Kuroba questioned nervously.

The Blade Eater copied his sister's message and sent it to his friends. What Kuroba read made her fill with panic.

"Frank! Thank goodness you finally contacted me!" Meg had typed. "You were right to be wary of Seiji. He's a Burst Linker like us, and he knows all of our identities. H-he did something to Sugu, something terrible. He…"

Kuroba read the remainder of the message in complete shock. What Meg had said should've been impossible, but the Black King knew that the Emerald Fencer player would never lie about something like this.

Kazuto banged his fist against his seat, his eyes full of anger. _"That bastard!"_ he practically shouted in his head. _"He'll pay for this! I swear it!"_

Frank was just as enraged as his male partner. _"He will,"_ he said coldly. _"Seiji's about to learn what happens when you mess with Nega Nebulus."_

**To be continued**

* * *

**Sorry that this chapter is shorter than usual. I just couldn't think of a lot of ways to extend it to meet the usual length in an organic sense. Anyway, this officially ends the Okinawa arc. Now it's time for the Seiji arc, who seems to be making his move. I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**

**Marth's pendant: a silver rope chain necklace with a wolf charm that's made of the same material and has two shards of the Shadow Crystal for eyes. It was a Christmas present from Kuroba that Marth rarely takes off. It seems to contain small remnants of power within its shards that manifests for unknown reasons, but only for brief moments.**

**Extra note: Marth being a Blade Eater is a correction on my behalf once I realized that the circumstances would make him a Blade Eater rather than an Aegis. I could've just went back and changed it in Black Wolf and Dark Swordsman 2, but because I realized this late into uploading, I decided to make it part of the story so my older readers would not be confused by the sudden change. Sorry.**


	22. While You Were Away

**April 18th, 2057**

Kazuto, Frank, Kuroba and Asuna hurried over to Dicey Café where Shino and the other members of Nega Nebulus were waiting after dropping off their luggage at their apartments. They needed to confirm what Meg had told them via instant message in person.

"That Seiji," Kazuto grumbled irritably. Even just thinking about the mysterious first-year made him angry. "I'm gonna make him regret the day he was ever born. No one messes with my sister!"

"Calm down, Kazuto," Frank said gently. "We can't be rash about this. We need to know what we're dealing with before we act, otherwise things will just get worse."

Kazuto just clenched his teeth in anger before the quartet arrived at their destination. They went inside, where they saw Shino and the others sitting around a large table in the center of the café. Besides them, there was no one else present since Andrew had put a closed sign on the door. The larger group seemed to be in a gloom, especially Suguha, which made Kazuto unconsciously ball his fists.

"Hey guys," Shino said slowly. "I'd ask how was your trip, but now might not be a good time."

"Unfortunate," Kuroba replied. "Now let's get this meeting started."

The third-year students took the empty seats by the table, which were conveniently right next to each other.

After a few moments of silence, Asuna said, "What happened?"

Meg, who had been comforting Suguha, faced the Lightning Flash and said, "It started two days ago…"

* * *

**Flashback- April 16th, 2057**

Meg, Suguha and Shino were on the school roof for a legion meeting. There were a few other students hanging out there as well, mainly because they were in the middle of their lunch break, but they kept their distance from the girls.

"You want to do what?!" Meg exclaimed in shock.

Shino brought her index finger to her lips in a shush manner. "Quiet, Meg," the Aqua Sniper player murmured. "We don't want to be overheard."

Meg looked a little embarrassed before whispering, "Why do you want to look into Seiji? Kuroba told us to stay out of trouble!"

"I know. But something about that guy just seems off to me. I just want to make sure he's no threat to us or our friends."

Suguha brought her hand to her chin in thought. "He does seem pretty suspicious. There's no way he could've beaten the third-year kendo members so quickly. I think we should look into him."

The Emerald Fencer let out a sigh in defeat. "Okay, but we'll have to be careful. If Seiji really is a Burst Linker, we don't know how strong he is or what his abilities are. And since our strongest members are in Okinawa right now, we could bite off more than we can chew."

"I know," Shino replied. "That's why we can't do anything too reckless. Leafa, do you think you could keep an eye on Seiji during kendo practice?"

"Sure. If I notice anything weird, I'll tell you guys." Suguha checked the time that was located in the top right corner of her peripheral vision. "Anyway, lunch is almost over. We should start heading to class."

Meg and Shino nodded, although the former was more reluctant. It was largely because Meg had to deal with a handful of monster attacks before she had reunited with her brother and since then, the attacks stopped. This idea was putting her on edge.

The school bell rang, signaling that lunch was over. Shino walked off to go to her next class while Suguha prepared to do the same.

"Sugu, wait," Meg said suddenly, prompting the female Kirigaya to halt in her tracks and face her.

"What's wrong, Meg?"

The Emerald Fencer player found herself at a loss for words. "Just…be careful. I've got a bad feeling about this."

Suguha gave her best friend a warm smile. "Don't worry. I'll be just fine."

* * *

**Present Day**

Shino balled her hands into fists and gritted her teeth in frustration. "Damn it. We should have waited for you guys to get back," the Aqua Sniper said bitterly. "Instead we fell right into Seiji's trap."

"That doesn't matter anymore," Kuroba spoke up. "What matters is what our next move will be. So what happened after that?"

This time Suguha was the one to speak. "Well, after school I went to kendo practice and kept an eye on Seiji, and then…"

* * *

**Flashback- April 16th, 2057**

Suguha watched as Seiji performed several practice swings in the school's kendo dojo while their team members either preparing to leave or continuing to practice. They were all dressed in their kendo gear, minus the pads and helmet.

The Verdant Fairy player had to admit that despite having potentially cheated during the kendo team trials, Seiji had a decent form. He held his shinai with both hands and had his feet spread evenly across the wooden floor, balancing his weight.

"Maybe you should take notes."

Suguha let out a gasp as she realized that Seiji was looking at her. She let out a cough to clear her throat before saying, "I appreciate the thought, but I think my form is good as is."

"Then why'd you lose to me, a first-year and new member of the kendo team?" Seiji goaded with an arrogant smirk.

_"The ego of this guy… You win a few matches and you think you're the strongest person here,"_ Suguha thought to herself. Instead of a bitter reply, she calmly said, "You got lucky that time. Our next match will be very different."

"Oh, then I look forward to it. Just try to put up a better fight next time."

Suguha clenched her teeth in frustration at the first-year's remark. She turned to leave before Seiji added, "That boy that hangs around the student vice-president, Frank right? He was on the kendo team, wasn't he?"

"Uh, yeah. From what I heard, he was one of the best members until Araya got him banned from the team."

"What a shame. I wouldn't mind taking him on. He might actually give me a challenge."

"Or wipe the floor with you," Suguha muttered under her breath. She was aware that Araya somehow found out that Frank's civilian form (the one he was in the most) had enhanced strength and reflexes, and being the bully he was, Araya leaked it to the kendo instructor, resulting in Frank getting kicked off the team and completely blacklisted from joining any other sports team. Suguha knew that for the most part, Frank actually held back during his matches, but there were occasional slip-ups where he either reacted too fast or put too much force into his swings, which were probably interesting for him to explain.

Kazuto, who was also on the kendo team at the time, naturally tried to defend his best friend, but the instructor threatened to kick him off the team if he didn't stop. However, Kazuto ended up quitting in protest, much to the instructor's shock, since it was close to the nationals and Kazuto was one the team's top members. Umesato High ended up losing that year because of it.

"Did you say something?" Seiji questioned with a raised brow.

"No. I should get going. My friend is waiting for me."

Seiji didn't respond, prompting Suguha to gather her gear before going to the girls' shower room to clean up and change. After putting on her street clothes, she headed for the school gate, where Meg was waiting.

"Trouble at practice?" Meg questioned.

"N-not exactly," Suguha replied before the they began walking to their apartment. "Seiji didn't try anything strange during practice today. But I think he knows I'm watching him."

"Not good," Meg said slowly. "Did he say anything?"

"Well he mentioned Frank out of the blue when I was about to leave. It came off as weird to me."

Meg nodded in acknowledgement. "That is weird. You don't think he knows Frank's identity, do you?"

"How could he? Frank's done a pretty good job of hiding his full powers. There's no way Seiji could find out Frank's true identity on his own."

That didn't seem to convince the younger Storm-Furuta, so Suguha pulled her into a sideways hug, causing them both to stop.

"Relax, I'm sure everything will be alright. Your brother wouldn't let his biggest secret be found out so easily."

"I know," Meg said weakly. "But I just can't stop worrying. Frank's the only family I have left. I nearly lost him after the Demon War and I just got him back. If something happens to him…" she choked back a sob, "I don't know what I'd do."

"Frank's not going anywhere, not with Kazuto and Kuroba around," Suguha said soothingly.

"I hope you're right."

Little did they know that tomorrow would be the day that Seiji would make his first move.

* * *

**The Next Day**

Suguha was in the north courtyard at Umesato High School. This courtyard had rows of incredibly ancient camphor and oak trees that stretched along all sides, making the place dim even during the day. There were no benches or lawns, nor security cameras, so most students never go near it. It also happened to be Frank and Kazuto's favorite place on campus, having taken several naps under the shade of the trees.

The reason Suguha was here was because Seiji had sent a text mail to her, asking her to meet him here alone. That did send red flags to her brain, but she didn't tell Meg or Shino about the message as she saw this as her chance to get some answers out of the first-year. The designated time was the twenty-minute break between second and third periods.

At first Suguha thought she was the first to arrive, until she saw Seiji Nomi come out from behind an oak tree. His build was slim, like that of a child, making her question if he was a threat for a brief moment.

Seiji bowed lightly, his soft, bowl-cut hair swinging. He had a big smile on his face.

"That's game over, Kirigaya, or should I say, Verdant Fairy."

Suguha's eyes widened in alarm. He knew her avatar's name in Brain Burst. But how could he have known?

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Suguha questioned.

"The match. My victory," Seiji said, retaining his smile while shrugging his shoulders.

It took Suguha a second to realize what he meant. "We haven't even had a proper duel yet," she said with a scowl. "You keep hiding your name from the matching list."

"Who needs duels when you have the knowledge that I do? Like how your brother, Kazuto Kirigaya, is the Black Swordsman, also known as Graphite Edge, and how Frank Storm is the Dark Swordsman and Black Wolf. In fact, I know all of your identities, including the student vice-president, Kuroyukihime."

"But how?"

"Sorry, that's a secret. By the way, take a look at this."

Seiji sent Suguha a digital folder to her Neurolinker wirelessly. When she opened it, the folder contained several pictures of Marth training Kuroba in the city park.

"Oh no," Suguha said in dread.

"Your friends should've chosen a more private area than the park. Sure they were in an isolated section of it, but to think that the Dark Swordsman and the Black King would make such an amateurish mistake."

Suguha clenched her fists tightly as she glared at Seiji, who didn't even flinch. "What do you want, Seiji?"

"Oh nothing much. I just want to use you and your friends as my pets, giving me Burst Points."

"No way. Do you really think you'd get your way, just like that?!" Suguha exclaimed in anger.

Seiji simply sneered. "I do actually. I wonder what the military will do once they learn that the Aegis, the being who nearly destroyed Tokyo and disappeared thirty years ago, was attending this very school. I bet they'd try to capture him and find a way to weaponize him."

Suguha's eyes widened with fear. "You wouldn't…"

"That won't happen!"

The Verdant Fairy player turned around and saw Shino and Meg appear behind her. Meg also had the angriest face Suguha had ever seen on her, indicating that she must have heard the entire conversation.

"Even if you leak out my brother's identity to the government, they wouldn't do a damn thing!" Meg continued, her tone filled with rage. "Because there's not a military force on the planet that's strong enough to take him on."

Seiji, however, looked unfazed. "True, but does that also apply to his Driver? If they have Kuroyukihime, then the Aegis wouldn't dare to resist, lest something happen to her."

"You bastard!" Shino exclaimed in outrage. "You'd really do that just to get Burst Points?! You don't have a lick of honor!"

"Honor's for wimps like you," Seiji replied. "Now then, we've got three minutes until next period. I believe I should collect my Burst Points, but who to choose?" He eyed the three girls before setting his gaze on Suguha. "Since you requested a duel, I might as well accept, Kirigaya. I hope you're ready."

"Sugu!" Meg said loudly.

"Burst Link!" Seiji shouted.

* * *

Suguha was confused as to what just happened. Not only did Seiji know her and her friends' Brain Burst avatars, but he also knew Frank's identity and even threatened to expose it. Next Seiji challenged her to a duel while she was still in shock.

_"Just calm down,"_ Verdant Fairy said to herself. _"I'll just beat him and show Seiji that he can't mess with us."_

Verdant Fairy was a level 5 Burst Linker and had a green metallic appearance that resembled her Sylph account from Alfheim Online. She had a green and white waistcoat that covered the backs of her legs, long blonde hair that was tied back in a ponytail with a flower-like headband, and had a katana strapped to her waist in a white sheath. She also had a featureless face with no mouth and dark-green eyes.

The stage she was in was dark, the sky changing to a shade of indigo of dusk. The school buildings had disappeared before being replaced by gray stone structures, tombstones. Moss-covered crosses and stone monuments stretched over endlessly, as far as Verdant could see.

When the stage generation was complete, two HP gauges materialized on either side of the top of her visual field. The one on the left had the name Verdant Fairy directly below it while the right had Dusk Taker, who was a level 5.

Verdant had never seen that name before and yet somehow it belonged to a high-level Burst Linker. Seiji probably blackmailed other Burst Linkers into giving him their points, allowing him to level up without having to actually fight. The word "Fight" in large flaming letters appeared before her before scattering into the air, prompting Verdant to draw her katana.

The green-type avatar quietly marched straight ahead, where she saw the strange form of a duel avatar that was standing still.

The silhouette was a normal human shape, but on the smaller side, not too different from Verdant Fairy. Its face was a featureless visor and had reddish-purple eyes beneath it. The body and legs were slim poles, while the arms looked completely different.

The right arm looked to be of the metallic variety. The inner side of the thick arm, made up of an assemblage of gears and shafts, was equipped with a brutal edged tool like bolt cutters. The left arm, however, was quite different. It appeared to be organic with thin protruding segments and divided from the elbow down into three long tentacles.

The avatar's form had no real sense of unity, but the entire body was a uniform dark purple, just as the "dusk" of its name indicated. Its affiliation on the color circle meant it was probably meant for close-range and distant, but the saturation was fairly low.

That was all Verdant Fairy could glean from her observations. She braced herself, not lowering guard by even an inch, and said, "So you're going to try to take away my points now. I let you beat me and you get today's 'tribute', that's what you meant?"

Seiji, Dusk Taker, remained silent for a few seconds before turning his twilight-colored visor toward Verdant. "You sure sound confident, Kirigaya," he said finally, sounding as though he was suppressing his laughter while the tentacles of his left arm writhed. "I wonder how long that'll last. You'll soon learn your place, at my feet."

"Well you just revealed that you're a Burst Linker and I now know your avatar name and appearance," Verdant retorted. "Don't you think this could be just as lethal as revealing Frank's identity to the government?"

"In other words, you're saying that if I leak out Frank's identity as the Aegis, you and your friends will counter by outing me in the real world and I'll be attacked by other acceleration users?"

"Is there any reason I shouldn't?"

"Ha-ha-ha! Tough talk! Well, I'll acknowledge that you have managed to get ahold of a card. But to get your points, no matter which route we go, there is still the need for the duel. So I thought I'd hang onto one other thing for you."

"What?" Verdant wasn't able to grasp what Dusk Taker meant, his words distorted by a metallic effect.

"Yes. Something very precious to you. Now then…we went to all the trouble of getting this stage, so perhaps we should fight? It is a bit lonely here with no one in the Gallery, but this shouldn't take too long, so I don't mind." As he spoke, the blackish-purple avatar raised the cutters of his right hand and snapped the blades shut.

Verdant couldn't tell what Dusk Taker was planning. If they were going to fight, then she had no intention of going down quietly. With the knowledge of Dusk's real identity in her hands, she could broadcast it across the entire Accelerated World, and Seiji would be hunted down by point-hungry Burst Linkers to the point where he couldn't take a step without getting challenged. Dusk Taker must have a plan to ensure that doesn't come to pass, but even then, all she had to do was inform her brother, Frank and Kuroba of the matter and they could deal with it themselves.

She didn't know what Seiji was planning to take from her, but whatever it was, Verdant knew she had to defeat him before he tries.

"If you think this will be an easy victory, then you're sorely mistaken!" Verdant Fairy shouted before she shot towards her opponent with blinding speed.

The battlefield they were in was the Cemetery stage, whose main characteristics were that it was dark and the arms of the dead shot up from the ground to occasionally grab onto the legs of the duelers.

Even though they were the same level, that didn't mean that their fighting strengths were equal. Unlike other online games, a difference in level was not a determining factor in victory or defeat in Brain Burst. Obviously, a battle between a level one and nine would be entirely one-sided as the level 9 player would have more abilities. But a battle between two level 5 duelists, the stage attributes and compatibility with them were very important.

Unfortunately, because of her bright colors, Verdant Fairy can't take full advantage of the terrain to attempt sneak attacks on her opponent, unlike her brother, Frank, and Kuroba. On the upside, however, there were plenty of breakable objects for her to destroy to fill up her special-attack gauge.

Just like Meg, Kazuto and Frank, Suguha's avatar had an aviation ability. Out of the four of them, Suguha was the fastest, even with minimal investment in her flight speed. Her wings were like a part of her, just like her arms or legs. She didn't know what she would feel if she couldn't soar through the skies just like she did back in Alfheim Online.

"Seii!" Verdant Fencer ran her katana through several tombstones, cutting them like a hot knife through butter. The object destruction bonus she got from doing so went straight into charging her special-attack gauge.

Dusk Taker kept his sights on the female avatar while barely moving from his position. He shifted his feet unhurriedly and braced the bolt cutters of his right hand before him and the tentacles of his left behind.

"Chehhh!" By the time Dusk Taker waved his left arm with a high-pitched, assertive _kiai_ shout just like in the kendo tournament, the distance separating them was still more than five meters.

Suddenly the three tentacles bent like whips before snaking out ahead. But Verdant was expecting this. In basically every game, tentacles always snaked out. The speed they were moving in was decent, but they were much slower than a bullet. Verdant moved her head to dodge the one targeting her face before chopping the remaining two with her katana and closed in on Dusk Taker.

Dusk Taker attempted to strike her in the chest with his bolt cutter arm, but Verdant Fairy simply slipped past it and slashed at his right arm and chest with her katana. Dusk Taker's HP had lost a chunk, but it was nowhere close to empty.

_"Gotta keep up the pressure,"_ Verdant Fairy thought to herself quickly.

Her opponent was trying to keep himself from falling over, but Verdant stayed on the offense, cutting into his defenseless chest. She refrained from using any of her katana Sword Skills, as they would cause her body to go rigid for a few seconds after they concluded, and in a one-on-one fight, that could be deadly. Instead she decided to save her strongest skills for when Dusk's HP was nearly depleted and she was airborne.

"Ngh!" Dusk Taker groaned.

Verdant Fairy kept on attacking as her opponent staggered, delivering slash after slash, wedeling down his HP bit by bit. Suguha's avatar was much lighter than her real body, allowing her to perform nimble techniques with ease.

_"There's no way I'll lose to a person who just runs from duels. When it comes to one-on-one combat, there's barely anyone who can beat me."_

"Someone who focuses on finding dirt on his opponents than fighting fairly has no reason to call themselves a Burst Linker!" Verdant Fairy proclaimed as she activated a one-hit wind katana skill, causing her blade to glow with a green light effect. She let the system take control of her body, having her slash diagonally on Dusk Taker's chest. The skill then generated a strong gust of wind, sending the blackish-purple avatar crashing violently into a nearby monument, his health gauge now down to 30 percent.

"It's over!" Verdant Fairy declared as she summoned her wings, which were the green wings of the Sylph race.

This was her chance to land the final blow. Her special-move gauge was completely full thanks to her constant attacks and there was no cover for Dusk Taker to hide behind.

Verdant took one breath and prepared to take off. Suddenly Dusk Taker's left arm twitched to life with no advance warning as its owner was lying limp against the ruined monument. The three tentacles flew at her like each was a separate life-form. She managed to dodge the first two with some fancy footwork, but the third managed to coil itself around her right wrist. Verdant didn't panic and instead grabbed onto the tentacle with her left hand and yanked it up as she kicked off the ground.

She rose up by about fifty centimeters, shifted the perpendicular thrust of her wings to the horizontal, and tried to drag Dusk Taker up with her. Her opponent resisted by planting both his feet firmly into the ground, but Verdant had enough momentum to make those feet scrape ruts into the ground.

She had fought several opponents who had tried to capture her with whips and wires, but nearly all of them had either been pulled up high into the sky, still connected to their whips or wires, or trapped awkwardly as they scraped along the surface of the battlefield. Similar to her fellow aviation users, Verdant Fairy's wings could keep going as long as her special-move gauge wasn't empty.

"Aaah!" Verdant Fairy's wings began glowing as they began beating fiercely, ready to drag Dusk Taker across the battlefield to finish him off.

Dusk Taker caught the elbow of his own left arm with the enormous cutters of his right hand. Verdant didn't have any time to register it as she heard an unpleasant snip, the tentacles being severed just as easily as with her katana.

The tension of the tentacle clinging onto her abruptly vanished, and she was sent cartwheeling backward through the air. She bounced at least three times on the ground, destroying several tombstones before coming to a stop. Verdant Fairy found herself looking up at the reddish-black twilight sky in daze before getting back on her feet. Suddenly skeletal white arms erupted from the ground around her, grabbing her limbs. It the "Ensnare" terrain effect of the Cemetery stage.

"Damn it! Not now!" Verdant Fairy tried to brush them all off, but the arms just kept coming and she was slowly being pulled down to the ground. She quickly spread her wings and began flapping them fiercely to go straight up.

However, just as she was about to break free, a shadow shot toward her, moving like some kind of insect, and came down on Verdant's shoulder with a kick, nailing her back down.

Above her was none other than Dusk Taker, who had less than 20 percent of his HP gauge thanks to the self-amputation of his left arm. Verdant Fairy's HP, however, was still at 90 percent. A turn-around seemed impossible at this point, yet the dark-colored avatar looked strangely relaxed. He bent over languidly and drew near Verdant's featureless face.

Verdant Fairy let out a grunt before saying, "Do you like stepping on people that much?"

"Heh. Maybe. Now then, I think it's time this duel came to an end." Dusk Taker lifted up his left arm, half of it missing, to stare at the cross section.

Verdant found herself staring at it as well and watched as the three wriggling nubs grew into three new tentacles. "So they regenerate? Just like a lizard's tail or something."

"If we're talking about it, it's more like octopi or sea anemones. Or wait, I think the _former owner_ said starfish."

"Wait, what?!" Verdant Fairy exclaimed in shock.

"I told you, didn't I?" Dusk turned towards her and began to murmur in an even colder voice, "That I would hang onto something very precious to you," the blades of the bolt cutters clacked open around Verdant's right arm, "means," light from the reddish-purple eyes swirled around in the center of Dusk Taker's helmet, which was so close now that it almost touched Verdant's head, "this. Demonic Commandeer."

_"He's using his special move!"_

However, the voice uttering the attack name had no fight or enthusiasm in it, instead the words were simply spat out. It was almost like Seiji was trying to distance himself from the rule that players must call out the name to activate their special attacks.

Dusk Taker's face emitted a pillar of black light that slammed into Verdant Fairy's face before bouncing back in every direction.

"Ngh…!" Verdant groaned as she gritted her teeth. She prepared to withstand the attack but there was no way Seiji could win now, even at this range with one blow. Once Dusk Taker was done, that was when she'll counterattack.

However, her HP gauge didn't decrease at all. There was no pain either, not even heat from the light blasting into her face. But Dusk Taker's special-attack gauge was indeed plummeting from fully charged at an alarming rate. The blackish-purple vortex increased further in intensity, putting a cold pressure on Verdant's face, but besides that, nothing seemed to have changed.

_"Wait."_

Suguha suddenly felt something being sucked from her body. She realized it the instant her opponent's special-attack gauge had dropped to half. The flow of the light had reversed itself, erupting like a slithering liquid from her face and re-entering Seiji's.

Several seconds later, and the phenomenon had stopped. Dusk Taker's special-attack gauge was at zero now while Verdant Fairy's was fully charged. Neither of their HP gauges had changed.

Verdant Fairy willed herself to fly. Dusk Taker's attack might have a delayed effect, so there was no point in waiting for it to be activated. If she could get her opponent to a high enough altitude, she could drop him and end the duel in her victory.

Strangely, though, nothing happened. The skeletal arms that clung to her were gone, leaving the only thing holding her down was the light touch of Dusk Taker's left foot and right hand, the former on her chest and the latter on her right arm.

Suddenly her nerves ran cold as she realized something. She couldn't fly. No matter how much she concentrated on her back, the Sylph wings that brought her body up into the sky wouldn't respond.

Dumbstruck, Suguha whirled her head around and looked over her shoulder.

_"Where are they?!"_ she thought in a panic.

The two pairs of green wings that should've been there, sparkling as always, had disappeared without a trace.

"No," Verdant Fairy said in despair before turning to face forward again.

The blackish-purple avatar in front of her stood up soundlessly, casually releasing her restraints and taking several steps back.

"What did you just do to me?!" Verdant Fairy exclaimed.

"Heh-heh-heh." Seiji's laugh was a mix of a young child's innocence, and a veteran's tenacity. "Isn't it obvious? Your wings have been clipped. Now," he crossed his arms in front of his chest and then thrust then thrust them out to the sides, "they're mine!"

A hollow, wet sound filled the air as Suguha watched in shock as two curving protuberances stretched out from Dusk Taker's back. They extended a meter or so before stopping, groaning, and then they deployed wide to both sides, scattering a dull, viscous black liquid.

They were wings, composed of bones and membrane, like a bat or a demon, and formed a sinister black silhouette in the red of the evening sky. Suguha could only stare as Dusk Taker attempted flap his new wings and try to take off.

"I see. It's more difficult than I thought. I suppose they're controlled not just by the physical order system, but also with input from other systems. I'll need to practice until I can control them without thinking."

Verdant's body felt completely numb to her as she tried to process what just happened. This couldn't be real. Her wings, the ability she loved so much back in ALO, was gone. It was too hard to believe.

"Oh, this is _very_ real." Dusk Taker spread his hands slowly as he hovered three meters above the ground. "My signature special attack, Demonic Commandeer, takes the Enhanced Armament, special attack, or any one of the other abilities of the target avatar. Those tentacles, I got from someone else ages ago, but I'm not that good with them. Do you get what I'm saying? There's no time limit. I can keep whatever I steal for as long as I want, but I can only keep so much."

Verdant's eyes widened in shock. "No. Give them back right now!"

"Oh I will, after you graduate from Umesato High School. Naturally you'll be giving me Burst Points until then every week. You'll be fine without it. I could never steal those sword skills of yours. You even almost made me use my trump card. Heh-heh-heh… Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Suguha simply gritted her teeth and said, "You're nothing but a coward! There's no honor in stealing someone else's powers!"

"But isn't that how all your other opponent's felt when you used your wings against them? I'm just returning the favor. Now then, I believe it's time to collect this week's payment. Hold still, why don't you?"

Verdant Fairy didn't have the will to fight back after losing her wings. She simply let Seiji take out all of her HP returning them to reality.

* * *

Meg saw that Suguha had fallen to her knees in despair. "Sugu!" she exclaimed in worry. Meg then glared at Seiji, who simply smiled at them. "What did you do?!"

"Oh, I just took your friend's wings from her. I'll give them back after you all graduate, but only if you cooperate. Don't even think about telling your Legion members about this, or Kirigaya will never get her wings back again."

"Why you…" Meg looked ready to throttle Seiji, only for Shino to grab her by the wrist. "Why are you stopping me? He has to pay!"

"That's just what he wants you to do. He's already taken something from Sugu. Don't let him do the same to you."

"How wise, Asada," Seiji replied as he brought his hand to her cheek. "You might make a pretty good pet.

Suddenly, Shino slapped his hand away from her. "Touch me again, and I'll put a bullet in your forehead. I don't know how you managed to steal Sugu's wings, but I _will_ get them back for her."

Seiji, however, looked unfazed by the threat. "We'll see." He then walked off as Suguha began to break down, tears running down her cheeks.

* * *

**Present Day**

"That bastard!" Klein said in outrage as he slammed his fist against the table. "I can't believe he did that."

"Are her wings really gone?" Ayano questioned.

"Unfortunately, they are," Meg confirmed. "Sugu and I had a duel this morning to see if they came back, but they were still gone. Seiji's probably the only one who can return them, but there's no way he'll budge on returning them until we graduate."

"Seiji," Kazuto muttered in anger, catching the attention of his partners.

"Kazuto?" Frank asked in concern.

The Graphite Edge player didn't respond. Instead he got out of his chair and left the café.

"Where is he going?" Kuroba questioned.

"He's not… Oh no." Frank immediately sprang up from his chair and sprinted out the door. "Kuroba! Tell the others what happened in Okinawa. I'll go after Kazuto!"

"Uh, okay," Kuroba replied, still confused as to what just happened.

* * *

"Kazuto, wait!"

The Black Swordsman stopped in his tracks before turning to see his partner running towards him. "What do you want, Frank?" he questioned coldly.

"You're going to confront Seiji, aren't you? Don't try to deny it. I know you better than anyone. Are you insane?! If you do that, he might dispose of Sugu's wings so she can't ever get them back."

"Oh, he'll do nothing of a sort, if he knows what's good for him," Kazuto said fiercely. "Besides, I know you want to make him pay just as badly as I do. Why don't we go make it clear exactly who he's dealing with?"

Frank was silent for a few moments before nodding and saying, "You're right. Let's go pay the sneaky bastard a visit."

* * *

Seiji was alone in the school's kendo dojo preparing to leave when suddenly the lights began flickering.

"Huh? What's going on?" he questioned to himself. He held his shinai tightly, as if preparing for an attack.

The room then went dark, making it almost impossible for him to see. Seiji also sensed that he wasn't alone.

"Seiji Nomi, or should I say, Dusk Taker," a male voice said. "I heard you threatened my friends yesterday and stole my sister's aviation ability."

Seiji gritted his teeth as he realized who it was. "Kazuto Kirigaya," he said calmly. "I suppose I'll have to inform Suguha that the deal is off then. Her wings are mine forever now that she told you."

Suddenly he felt something moving towards him at high speed. The next thing he knew, his shinai had been split cleanly in half by a black sword, with the top half landing on the floor with a thud.

"What the hell?" Seiji suddenly found himself feeling very afraid for his life. Even Brain Burst couldn't protect him from being slashed at by a real sword.

"Looks like someone's afraid," another voice spoke up. Seiji recognized it to be Frank, but just like Kazuto, he was hidden in the darkness. However, he could hear two pairs of footsteps circling him. "Reminds me of another person who acted just as arrogant as you. What was his name again?"

"Nobuyuki Sugou, otherwise known as the Fairy King Oberon," the Black Swordsman replied. "He tried to brainwash Asuna into marrying him and even tried to brainwash us as well. Do you know what happened to him, Seiji?"

"Uh, you guys fought him," Seiji said nervously. He knew it was too risky to fight back, especially since he can't even see his enemies, so he decided to humor them.

He heard Frank let out a scoff. "I wouldn't call that a fight. Sugou was all talk. Once we got rid of his GM powers, he became a sniveling coward. I then cut his lousy avatar in half."

"And I stabbed him in the eye," Kazuto added in a cold tone.

Something about how the duo said those remarks chilled Seiji to the bone. Suddenly two figures then appeared in front of the first-year. It was none other than the Darkness Duo themselves, the heroes of Aincrad, Kirito and Marth.

They were both in their SAO forms with Kirito having Elucidator and Dark Repulser strapped to his back while Marth held Lunara and had Solaris in its scabbard.

"We know your kind, Seiji," Marth said venomously. "You act all smug when things are in your favor, but when they're not, you become a sniveling coward. You made a big mistake crossing us."

The angry presence around Marth outright terrified Seiji. "I-if you kill me, Suguha will never get her wings back. They'll be lost forever."

"Who said we're here to kill you?" Kirito questioned. "We're not like you. We don't go after people in the real world to force them into submission." He pointed a finger at the Dusk Taker player, causing the latter to flinch. "But know this. Don't think that whatever mod you use to keep your name off the matching list will protect you forever. I'm coming for you, and I _will_ Sugu's wings back. After that, I'll make sure you'll never be able to accelerate again."

Seiji's eyes widened in fear. It seems he sorely underestimated the Darkness Duo. Right now, the only thing protecting him was the mod he used to hide his avatar's name and Verdant Fairy's wings, but as Kirito just pointed out, that protection won't last forever.

Kirito and Marth then faded into the darkness before the lights came on again, revealing that Seiji is alone.

"I might need some help with this," Seiji muttered to himself.

* * *

**That Evening**

Kazuto was lying in his bed, wondering what he should do. It was nine o'clock and was a clear night. He knew that there was a dark magic spell he could use to take back Suguha's wings from Seiji, but the name of the spell eludes him.

_"Damn it. Not only do I need to remember that spell, but I need to find a way to get way stronger so I can beat Seiji. But how am I supposed to do that?"_

Suddenly he got a text mail from Klein. Kazuto was curious what the red-head wanted, so he opened the message to read it.

"Hey, Kirito, I hope you're still up because I have something important to tell you," Klein had typed. "I contacted one of my friends in Brain Burst and explained the situation to them. Good news is that they'll be happy to help. They asked for you to meet them at Kannana and Inogashira Street in the Unlimited Neutral Field at nine thirty. You can also bring one person with you too. I'd offer to go with you, but I have a late shift tonight and my boss can get really cranky if he catches anyone slacking off. Good luck."

_"Interesting. I wonder who this person could be."_

Kazuto already knew who to contact. He immediately sent a message to Frank telling him what Klein had done. He could've also contacted Kuroba, but she was most likely asleep already and he didn't want to bother her. Besides, Klein said he could only bring one person with him.

He got a reply from Frank saying that he was in. He cracked a light smile before waiting until it was time, closed his eyes and said, "Unlimited Burst."

When he opened his eyes, Graphite Edge found himself standing in the Unlimited Neutral Field, which currently had a wasteland vibe to it. He quickly made his way to the rendezvous point, running into Black Wolf along the way.

The duo then just stood there, waiting for this person to arrive. They needed to stay on guard since there were Enemies that wandered the area as well as other Burst Linkers.

"Do you have any idea who we're meeting?" Black Wolf questioned.

"No idea. Klein didn't tell me. I just hope this isn't a hoax."

"Me too."

Suddenly the loud sounds of an engine roared in the air, causing them to perk up.

"Wait. I've heard that sound before," Black Wolf realized.

"Yo! Wolf, long time no see!" a familiar voice shouted.

Graphite and Wolf turned around were they saw duel avatar with a skull helmet riding on an American motorcycle heading towards them.

"Ash Roller!" Black Wolf said in surprise as the biker stopped in front of them. "You made it to level 4?"

"You bet! Losing to you two times in a row was the motivation I needed to increase my level," Ash Roller confirmed. "Red Shogun told me what happened. Is it true Verdant Fairy lost her aviation ability?"

Graphite Edge lowered his head in shame. "Yeah, it is. Do you know of a way to get it back?"

"Not a clue. But I think I know someone who can give you the power you need to do it. Hop in." Ash Roller hit a button on his dashboard, causing a sidecar to appear.

The Darkness Duo locked eyes with each other and nodded before climbing onto the motorcycle, with Graphite sitting behind Ash Roller while Wolf sat in the sidecar. Once they were aboard, Ash revved the engine and took off.

"So where are we going?" Black Wolf questioned loudly as the strong gust of wind and the roaring engine made it hard to hear.

"Tokyo Tower, in Minato Ward's Shiba Park," Ash answered back. "Let me tell you two a story on the way there. Before you guys showed up there was only one Burst Linker that achieved the closest thing to flying. People called her 'Iron Arms', 'Icarus', things like that. Eventually she disappeared from the duel frontline and has made her home on Tokyo Tower."

"Wow, she sounds strong," Graphite replied as they were nearing their destination, which was a lone immensely tall stone pillar. There were no stairs or passageways leading up, likely mirroring that the old Tokyo Tower was off-limits.

"Oh, she was terrifying when she wanted to be," Ash Roller continued. "She also happens to be my guardian. Lucky me, right?"

"Yeah, lucky," Wolf said with little enthusiasm.

"Well, Wolf, I'd say you're the luckiest out of all of us. Not just anyone can catch the attention of a King, much less the Black King herself. Anyway, I'm sure my guardian will be more than happy to help you guys out."

Graphite Edge couldn't help but smile in response. "Thanks, Ash. I mean it."

"Don't mention it. Any friend of Red Shogun is a friend of mine, even if we're in different Legions."

Graphite made a mental note to ask Klein how he befriended Ash Roller as the biker stopped his motorcycle near the stone pillar.

"Is something wrong?" Graphite questioned.

"No. I'm just waiting for the wind to stop."

After a few minutes of waiting, the wind finally stopped. "Now! Hold on tight! We're going up!" Ash Roller shouted.

"How are we… Ahhhhh!" Black Wolf exclaimed as Ash Roller raced his bike towards the stone pillar.

Somehow Graphite and Wolf managed to grab onto something as the front wheel of the bike jumped up, slammed against the vertical stone wall and started to climb straight up the pillar.

"No way!" Graphite Edge shouted in disbelief. Wolf had told him that Ash Roller had used this wall-climbing power during their second battle, but he never thought he'd see it used for this.

Somehow the bike was able to ride up the pillar without even wobbling, almost as if some mysterious gravity were at work to keep the tires glued to the wall. Obviously, the bike wasn't going as fast as it would on the ground, but it still making decent progress. The top of the spire was coming into view, with the edge tracing a beautiful arc in the yellow sky.

Now that Graphite thought about it, he could easily make it up the pillar by flying. He could sprint up walls if he built up enough speed, but there was no way he could climb this entire pillar with it. Unfortunately, when they were about ten seconds from reaching their destination, he felt a wall of air about to rush at them from the left.

"Shit! Wind. Shiiiit!" Ash Roller cursed as he turned the handlebars and shifted the motorcycle's trajectory to the left. The gust that blew in seconds later sideswiped the bike mercilessly.

"Fly hiiigh!"

"Aaaaaaah!"

Wolf then gritted his teeth in frustration. "No way we're dying from some stupid wind. Stormveil!"

Suddenly a vortex of black wind appeared around the bike, blocking the wall of air, allowing Ash to steady his bike.

"Nice thinking, Wolf!" Ash Rider shouted. "Keep that wind off us!"

Wolf let out a strained grunt as he struggled to maintain the barrier. Normally he'd need to use 40 percent of his special-move gauge to use this defense spell but under special circumstances, he can use it briefly (at least a few seconds) without even charging the gauge.

Soon the trio reached the top of the pillar, allowing Wolf to dismiss his spell. They then got off the bike and gazed at what could only be described as a heavenly garden. The lawn was a bright green that covered the entire area, with a small spring in the center. The shimmering water there was astonishingly clear.

In the center of the spring was a small floating island, where Graphite saw an elliptical blue light turning slowly. He instantly recognized it as a portal, the sole way to return to the real world of your own volition from the Unlimited Neutral Field. Portals were usually found in landmark-type buildings, like train stations or tourist spots, so it was a little surprising to see one here.

On the opposite side of the garden was another unexpected something. It was none other than small house surrounded by countless flowering plants. The walls were a pure white, and the pointed roof was a deep green. It matched the ivy that was climbing up the walls.

"Wow," Graphite Edge said in awe. "This is a nice place to live in."

"Yeah," Wolf replied.

The door to the house immediately opened, prompting Ash Roller to stand at attention. Graphite Edge was curious as what Ash's guardian looked like, but what came out was nowhere close to what he expected.

What came rolling out, creaking as it did, was indeed a two-wheeled vehicle. However, the wheels were on the sides rather than front to back. The spokes were extremely thin silver lines and the tires were also silver, about a centimeter wide. On the vehicle was a slender chair, also knitted from silver wire. It was a wheelchair.

The duel avatar sitting on the wheelchair had her arms resting in her lap, which were tinged with a brilliant blue, and the lower jaw of the downward-pointing face was in the shape of a sharp mask. He couldn't see more of her face because of the white bonnet hat she was wearing. She was also wearing a dress of the same color.

"Graphite Edge, Black Wolf," Ash Roller said slowly. "I'd like you to meet my guardian, Sky Raker."

**To be continued**

* * *

**Finally this chapter is done. I probably made this one longer than I should have but I wanted to end it with Marth and Kirito meeting Sky Raker. I wonder what she's going to teach them. Maybe about a certain system Kuroba hinted about in a previous chapter? You'll just have to wait to find out!**


	23. The Incarnate System

**April 18th, 2057**

"It's been a while, Ash," Sky Raker said. "I'm happy to see you haven't forgotten me yet."

"A-a-as if I could forget you, Master," Ash Roller said nervously while bowing in respect.

It was weird to see Ash Roller acting this way, far from the usual confidence he portrays. _"I guess anyone would be on edge around Sky Raker if she's as strong as Ash says she is,"_ Graphite thought to himself. _"But why's she in a wheelchair? It can't be part of her Duel Avatar could it?"_

The sky-blue avatar turned her gaze towards the dual wielders. It was so intense that the duo found themselves taken aback for just a split second.

"You must be Graphite Edge and Black Wolf." Her voice was calm like a gentle breeze. "I've heard a lot about you two."

"Really?" Black Wolf questioned. "We're _that_ well known?"

"Of course. As you are both aware, flying in the Accelerated World is an extremely rare ability so if an avatar has that ability, word about them is bound to spread far and wide."

"I see."

Graphite Edge couldn't help but ball his fists in anger. His sister, Suguha, otherwise known as Verdant Fairy, had her wings stolen by another Burst Linker, the new student, Seiji Nomi, aka Dusk Taker. He swore that he'd make Seiji pay for what he did and restore his sister's wings.

"Um…okay then, Master. I-I'll be on my way now."

"Wait, what?!" Graphite and Wolf exclaimed in surprise as they watched Ash roller return to his bike.

"You're leaving?!" Graphite Edge continued. "What are we supposed to do?!"

"How should I know?" Ash Roller replied. "I'm sure you and Wolf will be just fine. I don't know how Verdant Fairy lost her wings, but if anyone can help you get them back, it would be my guardian. Besides, I owed Red Shogun a favor after he got me out of a jam here in the Unlimited Neutral Field."

"What jam?" Wolf questioned.

"You'll have to ask Shogun yourselves. Anyway, good luck!"

Ash Roller turned on his motorcycle, drove it into the portal, and disappeared.

"Why do I have a feeling he wants to raise our popularity enough and get us to betray Nega Nebulus?" Black Wolf wondered aloud.

"Well Ash is a member of the Green Legion, so it wouldn't be surprising if he had an ulterior motive for helping us," Graphite replied. "Not that it would work on us."

Sky Raker giggled. "Other than the way his brain works, the way he talks, and the way he looks, Ash is a pretty decent kid."

Graphite Edge just rolled his eyes and faced the female avatar. "Anyway, Ash said that you were the closest anyone got to flying in the Accelerated World."

"Correct, but I was never able to achieve true flight, like how you and Black Wolf have achieved."

"So, do you know we can get our comrade's wings again?" Black Wolf asked curiously.

Sky Raker didn't answer right away. Instead she gently brushed aside her dazzlingly lustrous sky-blue hair and stared at Graphite and Wolf for a while.

"I'm sorry, but that's impossible," she answered crisply.

"What…"

Graphite Edge was rendered speechless. This was supposed to be how he could help his sister. Now what was he supposed to do? Right as he was about to turn away, Sky Raker casually lifted the hem of her white dress, causing the boys' eyes to widen.

"Please take a look."

Sky Raker's legs were missing from the knees down. The round knee joints drew a supple line up to the thin thigh area, but the calves that should have stretched out below them were not there.

"What the hell?" Black Wolf said in disbelief.

It made sense that Sky Raker would be in a wheelchair if something was wrong with her legs, but for them to be missing? It was bizarre. Every Burst Linker knew that they could take damage by losing limbs during duels, heck, both Graphite and Wolf had lost a few during some battles every now and then. But after the duel is over, those lost limbs were immediately restored once you logged off.

_"Did Seiji steal Sky Raker's legs with his special move?"_ Graphite Edge wondered before shaking his head. _"No, that can't be it. Arms and legs are different than special moves and Enhanced Armaments. They're practically vital for a Burst Linker to fight."_

"What happened to your legs?" Graphite questioned.

"I chose to cut them off myself."

"What?!"

"I decided that I no longer needed legs, and I had a certain person cut them off for me. However, she knew that it was arrogant of me to do so, and deep down, so did I. Since then, no matter how many times I dive into the Accelerated World, my legs have never returned. Which means…even now inside me, the embers of madness smolder. As long as they exist, my legs will remain like this. I guess you could consider this my punishment for foolishly attempting to achieve the impossible."

"Your…punishment…" Black Wolf said slowly. His thoughts turned to the battle with Chrome Disaster, how his body went rigid as his traumatic memories overwhelmed him. If it wasn't for Kuroba encouraging him to fight back, who knows what would have happened?

"So you can't help us?" Graphite Edge asked nervously.

"I never said that," Sky Raker replied. "I know that you possess the power you need to restore your comrade's wings. Whoever did this must be very powerful, and I believe I know a way for you to confront them on equal terms."

"Really?" Graphite perked up, his hope renewed.

Sky Raker led the duo into the garden with her self-driving wheelchair. There were white benches installed at the edges of the round garden, each in a cardinal direction. They had no backrest, so you could sit facing either way. Sky Raker brought her wheelchair to a stop next to the northern bench, facing outward, prompting Graphite and Wolf to sit next to her.

They both couldn't help but gasp as they saw the incredible sight of an unbroken view of the heart of Wasteland Tokyo three hundred meters below. The government district area in Nagata-cho had changed into immense ruins hewn in red sandstone. The Shuto Expressway curved across the chasm, supported by an arc of piled stones. Even the Imperial Palace could be seen far off into the distance.

However, there was some mysterious black ruins that Graphite Edge could see near where the park where Marth and Kuroba had trained at. He was too far away to get a good look, but passed it off as some random area that was generated with the Terrain.

"I'm glad I finally got to meet you, Black Wolf, Graphite Edge," Sky Raker said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Um, it's good to…uh…meet you too, Sky Raker," Black Wolf said nervously, causing the sky-blue avatar to giggle.

"No need to be so nervous. Almost eleven years have passed since the foundation of the Accelerated World, and finally a flying ability appears. When Ash told me about you two, I was deeply surprised and also greatly interested. I thought, what kind of spirit…what kind of wounded psyche's scars could realize a power so great as to cut free from the gravity of this world?"

Black Wolf hung his head low, as if in shame. "I'm not sure you want to know. We're more like survivors of a harsh fate if anything else." He was surprised that he was telling this to a Burst Linker he just met, but the words simply came out with ease.

Sky Raker simply smiled and shook her head gently while patting Wolf on the shoulder. "I can't even begin to imagine just what kind of mental scars that Brain Burst read from your minds to create your Duel Avatars."

"Well, aren't mental scars feelings of failure?"

"True, but those aren't everything. Duel Avatars generated from an enormous loss, like a seething anger, without exception, manifest this power as a simple destructive force. One example is that Chrome Disaster, which had brought such monumental calamity to the Accelerated World."

The boys took a sharp breath upon hearing that name. While Graphite Edge was unable to help his friends take down the Armor of Catastrophe due to him dying during the battle with the Yellow Legion, he watched his partner take on his Dark Swordsman persona to defeat the cursed Enhanced Armament once and for all.

_"Come to think of it, how_ did _Marth change into his SAO appearance back then? Same for me during the battle with Sulfur Pot?"_ Graphite wondered.

"Then there are avatars with malice as their source who acquire midrange fighting abilities like a curse, while avatars created from despair often become self-destructive types, hurting themselves to defeat their enemies. Graphite, Wolf, are you aware that not all avatars house destructive powers like those?"

"Sort of," Wolf replied, looking kind of lost.

"I think so," Graphite Edge added.

There was definitely truth in Sky Raker's words. Graphite, Wolf, Fencer and Fairy's wings were not direct attack powers. Same with Ash Roller's bike.

"So your wounds, in other words, is a lack," Sky Raker replied. "A hole in the heart where something important is missing. You both have this futile hole, and you get angry, you resent it, you despair-or you reach out for the heavens again. That choice determines the nature of your avatar."

"Reach…for the heavens?" Black Wolf questioned.

"Exactly. In other words, hope. A wounded psyche is also the flip side of hope," Sky Raker said crisply. "You and Graphite Edge must have more hope for the sky in your heart than any other Burst Linker who came before you two…"

"Except I never wanted to reach the sky," Wolf spoke up suddenly, catching Sky Raker off-guard. "When I became a Burst Linker, I had amnesia. I couldn't remember anything about my past, save for my name." He brought his hand to his forehead and let it sit. "But when my memories started coming back, I began wishing that they had stayed forgotten. I didn't want to remember all the pain and trauma I had went through. All I wanted…was to die so I couldn't cause anyone else any more pain."

"You wanted…to die?" Sky Raker asked in disbelief.

"I did. I thought my death would be the only way I could protect my friends, and make up for the sins I've committed." Wolf lowered his hand and let out a heavy sigh. "Thankfully, Graphite and my guardian managed to snap me out of my despair. My past will always haunt me, but I have to move forward, no matter what."

"I see," the sky-blue avatar said with interest before turning to Graphite Edge. "What about you, Graphite?"

"My experience was similar to my partner's," the metal-type admitted. "I didn't long for death, but the weight of my troubled past threatened to overwhelm me. I wouldn't be surprised if I began having the desire to die had I not gotten better."

"Interesting," Sky Raker mused. "Tell me, do either of you believe that here in the Accelerated World, the force of your will means nothing? That the numerical data prescribed and calculated by the system alone determine any and all phenomena."

Black Wolf lifted his head in confusion. "What are you talking about? We're in a VR game. Are you saying that there's something other than digital data here?"

"This wheelchair."

Her sudden, seemingly unconnected statement made the duo raise an eyebrow.

"Look at it closely. This is not a separate Enhanced Armament. It's just an object, just as it looks, assembled from a chair and wheels. I'm sure you both noticed that it drives itself."

"Y-yeah," Graphite Edge acknowledged, still confused. "Is there like a motor installed into it or something?"

Graphite and Wolf began examining the wheelchair closely but realized there was no type of propulsion device installed anywhere on the wheelchair.

"What the hell?" Black Wolf said in shock. "But how did it move earlier?"

Rather than answering, Sky Raker gently spread her thin hands out to the sides, revealing no control devices on the armrests. Then her wheelchair began slowly rolling backward, wheels creaking.

"You've got to be kidding me," Graphite Edge said in amazement.

The chair pulled even farther back and suddenly began twirling on the lawn before gracefully sliding back and forth and side to side, like a figure skater on ice. Once it finished, the chair stopped neatly in the same position it was in before.

"How was that?"

"Uh…" Both Wolf and Graphite were stumped as to what just happened.

There's no way the wheelchair should have been able to move. The Accelerated World was nearly identical to the real world that it could be considered another reality. All machines required a motive device and all motive devices required an energy source. Ash Roller's motorcycle, for example, had gasoline in its tank and the drive wheel spun because of a chain connected to the engine.

"It can't be," Graphite Edge said slowly. "What kind of force is moving your chair?"

A serene smile appeared on the small mask of the Duel Avatar whose hair was the color of the sky. "My will," she answered simply. "I moved it with nothing more than my willpower."

Black Wolf let out a gasp while Graphite Edge shook his head in disbelief.

"But that's practically ESP! Is that the ability?!"

"I'm not so sure," Black Wolf said as he stood up before walking to the edge of the cliff.

"Wolf, what are you doing?" Graphite Edge said nervously while Sky Raker simply watched.

Wolf didn't answer as he drew Lunara from its sheath. Suddenly he threw the black sword off the edge as far as he could. They all watched as the sword faded into the distance.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Graphite Edge practically shouted. "It'll take us forever to find your sword! Time we don't have!"

"Just watch," Black Wolf said crisply. The black avatar stretched out his right hand to the horizon.

Suddenly Graphite could barely see a small black object flying towards them at high speed. His eyes widened when he realized it was Lunara as Wolf effortlessly caught without getting knocked back from its momentum.

"Interesting," Sky Raker said in awe. "So you're familiar with this power, Wolf?"

"Sort of," Black Wolf admitted. "I found out about this trick during one of my first duels, but I never really thought about it too much. I just thought about my swords returning to my hands and they respond just like that."

"Why didn't you mention this sooner?!" Graphite Edge exclaimed.

Black Wolf scratched his head sheepishly while returning Lunara to its sheath. "Uh, I forgot."

Graphite Edge just slouched in exasperation. "Seriously?"

"Anyway, Sky Raker, this willpower trick, could it also be considered the power of imagination?"

Sky Raker nodded. "Correct. You catch on quick, Wolf. I'm sure that when you both fly, you have to create strong images of how much you'll accelerate, turn, or even decelerate. Your Neurolinkers reads those thoughts and moves your avatars accordingly."

"Come to think of it, Wolf and I got the hang of flying by imagining virtual bones and muscles in our wings and moving them," Graphite Edge realized.

"Excellent! Now you're getting it. This is the true power that's hidden within us Burst Linkers. Imagine Power. I have total control over this wheelchair through a stable imagining of the two wheels rotating. Admittedly, it did take me quite a long time before I was able to do this, but it's not impossible. Absolutely not."

Again, the right wheel turned with a slight creak, and Sky Raker faced the duo again. When she spoke, she sounded majestic and mysterious somehow, her voice having some sort of echo.

"Those Burst Linkers who manage to attain control via the Image Power System, which lies beneath the Movement Command System normally used to control the avatar, have a name for it. This desire straight from the heart-in other words, your will." She paused for a second. "The Incarnate System."

"The Incarnate," Wolf started.

"System," Graphite finished.

* * *

Rias quietly opened the door to her foster son's room, trying not to disturb him if he was asleep. She was wearing light green pajamas and was barefoot. The room was dark, the only light being the moonlight peeking through the small window.

The red-haired woman saw the Blade Eater sleeping peacefully on his bed, though it seems like he forgot to take off his Neurolinker again. Rias simply shook her head with a light smile on her face. She slowly made her way into the bedroom and knelt beside the sleeping teen and simply watched him.

_"I can't believe how long it's been since I found you unconscious in the park, but I'm glad I did,"_ Rias thought to herself. _"You may not say it, but I can tell that you've gotten yourself involved with something big. But no matter what happens, I'll always protect you, Frank."_

She thought back to when her foster son had used his powers to protect her former friends' children from a bear. Unbeknownst to Frank, however, their parents wanted to report him to the government as they saw him as a threat to their children and Japan. Luckily, Rias managed to "persuade" them and the children to forget all about Frank's powers. Also, when Yuniko had emailed her months back about staying at their apartment, Rias was well aware that she was lying about her identity, but she also knew that Frank could take care of himself so she played along. Besides, if things did go south, well, she had ways of getting back in a flash.

Rias eyed her right palm and summoned a red magic circle before it turned into a tiny fire. She simply smirked at the sight. It was easy to manipulate the memories of humans for her. After all, ordinary humans are no match for a demon lord.

"Don't worry, Altena," Rias whispered. "I'll protect the reincarnation of your son. Always."

She was furious with herself over what happened in Okinawa. She had let her guard down thinking Frank and his friends would be safe there, but Arcanos only took advantage of that and plotted to kill the Blade Eater with the Curse of the Shadow Fortress. From now on, Rias refused to lower her guard again. She won't let Arcanos or his allies get anywhere near her son, even if it involves fighting in the virtual world.

* * *

Morgan Berlitz was sitting on her bed in her quarters reading a tome that was written in a long-forgotten language. She had light blonde hair that went down to her waist and green eyes, along with slightly pointed ears. She was wearing a blue and black dress that exposed her cleavage and her stomach, and black leggings and shoes. She looked like an eighteen-year-old human girl, but her looks are very deceiving.

Morgan was actually a half-demon, with the other half being fairy. She was born during the Era of Beginning when the gods and sacred beasts still lived. Because of Morgan's heritage, she was extremely powerful with the mystic arts, but she was shunned by both fairies and demons, causing her to live alone for most of her life.

When Zeta, the God of Darkness, began his war campaign to wipe out the humans, the blonde sorceress cast her lot with him. It wasn't because she agreed with the god's mindset. She did it only for her own survival and to secure a future for herself. In fact, it wasn't long until she was named the sixth demon lord. However, there were two demon lords that had rebelled against the Dark God, Rias Morningstar and Altena Umbris.

Morgan didn't really care that two of the demon lords had turned traitor as all it did was give her more opportunities to prove herself and she managed to complete every task she was assigned. That is, until she met _him_. One young man from a fallen kingdom whose name has been lost to time. Morgan had killed hundreds of humans without any issue before, but for some reason, this one would not die. It was the only battle she had ever lost in her long life. If she actually focused, she could still feel her body ache from the slashes of the young man's black and gold sword.

What was most surprising was that the young man chose not to kill her. Instead he allowed Morgan to teleport away to safety. To this day, the blonde sorceress had no idea as to why he spared her. She chose not to return to Zeta as she knew that failure would mean death. Instead, she chose to hide away in a small cove where she put herself into an enchanted sleep to recover from her injuries and avoid the rest of the war.

The only reason Morgan was here now was because Arcanos, a fellow demon lord, had found where she was sleeping and awoke her. He needed her magical expertise to locate Zarc, the king of the demons and the top demon lord, who had gone missing after his battle with the Dark Swordsman.

Arcanos promised to pardon her desertion if she helped him, but Morgan knew it was a lie. Once she had fulfilled her purpose and located Zarc, Arcanos won't need her alive anymore and he would kill her. Not that she would make it easy for him though.

Despite this Morgan still helped out with locating the missing King of Demons, but it was only out of her own self-interest. If she managed to find a better offer, she'd drop this one in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, Morgan has yet to find such a thing, much less someone worthy of her loyalty.

Suddenly she heard a knock on her door. "Come in," she answered.

The door opened, revealing it to be none other than Blados, who had recovered from his battle with the Blade Eater and his Drivers in Okinawa.

"I see you're looking better," Morgan said, but her voice had no emotion in it.

"Yes, I've managed to recover all my strength thanks to the Dark Springs," the orc replied. "Have you located Lord Zarc yet?"

"Not yet. Tracing spells take time to work and I'm searching the entire _planet_ for him. No one knows where Zarc ended up after his defeat against the Dark Swordsman and there's no personal objects of his that remain that would speed up the process. Even a supreme sorceress like me can't force a miracle to happen."

"I see. Just keep trying. Arcanos might start getting impatient soon. He and the Research Society have big plans for this world."

"I know," Morgan replied. "Speaking of which, did you retrieve what I asked for?"

"I have." Blados pulled out a small brown pouch from his armor and handed it to the half-demon, who eagerly accepted it. "You have no idea how hard it was to sneak into the vault and retrieve that without getting caught. I'm a _warrior_ , not a rogue!"

Morgan simply smirked wickedly. "Don't be such a baby. With my talisman, you wouldn't have been seen at all. This thing is better off in my hands than in those fools. They can't even comprehend what they had found."

"Okay, what is it?" Blados asked with little enthusiasm.

The sorceress opened the pouch and emptied its contents into her palm, which was a single tiny piece of chrome. "Why only the last surviving shard of the Armor of Catastrophe, of course."

* * *

Graphite Edge was at a loss for words as he processed the words "Incarnate System" in his mind. He had never heard of such a system before, not even in Sword Art Online. However, just thinking those two words made him sense a feeling of power from them.

"So, using this 'Incarnate System' can give us the power we need to take back Fairy's wings?" Graphite Edge questioned.

Sky Raker's response, however, was neither confirmation nor denial. "I showed you and Wolf how I can move the wheels with the power of my will. But I could easily do the same thing with my hands, instead of working so hard to focus the image. Do you two see? Using the will as an agent for work is possible to do with the normal control system, but manifesting something with the will phenomena is normally impossible. There is a very wide, deep ditch, no, a vast canyon, between these two concepts. To speak figuratively, it's like hitting a bullet with a bullet in the real world. It's possible, in terms of physics, but the execution is difficult. Extremely."

Sky Raker turned her gaze to the sky. When she spoke again, it was still tranquil, but it had a slight tremor in it.

"I wasn't able to do it. I threw away my legs, my friends. I abandoned everything I could think of, and yet I wasn't able to detach myself from the virtual gravity of this world…I said so earlier, didn't I?"

"Oh, sorry."

"It's fine. Since the beginning, this avatar of mine has had a certain Enhanced Armament. The power to move away from the earth and approach the sky. However, you most certainly could not call it flying. I leapt to an altitude of a mere hundred meters or so through a momentary thrust force, before I simply fell back down."

Graphite thought about the time he and Wolf decided to see how high they could fly with their wings. However, the highest either of them reached was 1500 meters before their fully charged special-attack gauges were depleted.

"I ended up possessed by the desire to someday fly higher, go farther. I spent every level-up bonus on enhancing my jumping ability, and all my time fighting so that could get even more points. The few friends I had, even my guardian, lost patience with what I became and left me. The only person who supported me was my former Legion Master. I tried to be useful to her as well. However, when I reached level 8 and turned that bonus again to my jumping, I realized that it would never be enough to turn Jump into Fly. My desire had turned into a deep madness."

Black Wolf gasped in shock. "You didn't…"

Sky Raker glanced at the Blade Eater and nodded.

"I…I made my avatar itself more lightweight, and in order to enhance my ability to fly using my will, I decided to get rid of my legs, which held my greatest attack abilities. I asked the person who had been both my friend and Master to cut off my legs with her sword. She tried to stop me, but I no longer understood even her feelings… I said some terrible things to her, but she only looked sad until finally she granted my wish."

Sky Raker stroked her knees lightly with her right hand before telling the rest of her story.

"I used all my bonuses, trained my will, and even abandoned my legs to make it impossible for me to walk. The maximum altitude I was able to reach as a result was 350 meters. Three point five times my starting altitude. But I did not reach the sky. I just barely managed to reach the peak of the old Tokyo Tower here, and then I finally understood. That the psychic wounds that were the source of my avatar and my hopes did not have that much power. 'Raker' means 'one who views'. Viewing the sky for a moment at the peak of a parabola…that is the absolute limit of the power given to me. But by the time I realized this, I had lost everything I cared about.

"So, Black Wolf, Graphite Edge?" Sky Raker asked, turning her shadow of a mouth up into a smile. "Even after hearing this fool's story, do you still want to train with the Incarnate System? Even knowing that it's most likely ninety-nine percent impossible?"

Graphite Edge hung his head and bit his lip.

_"So there's high probability that Marth and I won't be able to use the Incarnate System,"_ he thought to himself. _"If Sky Raker, a level 8 Burst Linker, struggled to gain access the system, what chance do I have?"_ He then thought about his and Black Lotus's battle with the mysterious Sulfur Pot and how he somehow changed into his Black Swordsman persona to protect his Legion Master. _"Hold on, could the Incarnate System be the reason why my appearance changed that day? All I wanted was to protect Kuroba no matter the cost, just like how I opposed Kayaba back on Floor 75 of Sword Art Online. Somehow my memories must have overwrote the reality of this world to change my appearance. The same could be applied to Marth during his battle with Chrome Disaster when he changed into his Dark Swordsman persona. If we could do that just by accident, then that means we can master it."_

The metal avatar looked his partner in the eye. No words needed to be said as they both knew what they had to do.

"Sky Raker," Graphite Edge started to say.

"Teach us how to use the Incarnate System," Black Wolf finished.

Sky Raker smiled faintly and cocked her head slightly. "It will take a long time."

"We don't care," Black Wolf said. "This is something we have to do."

"It might take you both much longer than you think. So long that, depending on how it goes, you might reach the Point of No Return as Burst Linkers."

The dual wielders immediately knew what she meant. They knew that the reason why Kuroba and Yuniko seemed quite remote was because they had spent a protracted amount of time in the Unlimited Neutral Field, so much so that a gap between their actual and mental ages had emerged. Now it was their turn to make that decision.

"This wouldn't be the first time either of us have spent an unnatural amount of time in the virtual world," Graphite Edge replied as he balled his right hand into a fist. "We know the risks. But neither of us care. We have to protect our friends!"

Black Wolf nodded in agreement.

"Very well. Right now, in real time, it's a little after nine PM, correct? How much longer can you two stay in the dive in the other side's time?"

"We have school tomorrow so we should be okay for another three or four hours."

"Good. Let's call it a day for now. We'll start training tomorrow morning."

The swordsmen sighed in disappointment but accepted what the sky-blue avatar said. The three of them returned to the house and went inside, revealing that it was much larger than expected. However, it was just one room with nothing more than a small kitchen, a table, and a bed.

It turns out Sky Raker had been making some stew prior to Graphite and Wolf's arrival, but she gladly shared it with them. Naturally the male avatars were confused as to why a fighting game like Brain Burst would have cooking in it, but then remembered the handful of times they came across small bars and diners here in the Unlimited Neutral Field.

After dinner, Sky Raker suggested they get some sleep before snapping her fingers sharply, causing all the curtains to slid shut. Naturally, she would take the bed while Graphite and Wolf will be sleeping on the floor.

"Would either of you like a pillow?" she offered.

"Nah, I'm good." The Blade Eater suddenly changed into his wolf form before curling up on the floor.

"A shape-shifting ability? That's also quite rare. Just who are you, Wolf?"

"No one special," Wolf passed off.

Graphite Edge just shook his head in amusement before morphing into his wolf form as well.

"Interesting," Sky Raker muttered quietly as she looked at the black and white wolves. "I know I've seen Wolf's sword before, but where?"

"Hey, Sky Raker, does Ash Roller know about the Incarnate System?" Black Wolf asked.

"Not completely," she answered. "I've just given him hints. It seems he's trying a variety of things in his own way."

"That explains how the bike managed to stay on the tower," Graphite Edge spoke up. "Are you part of the Green Legion too?"

"No. I have only and will only ever belong to one Legion."

"Let me guess, Nega Nebulus," the black wolf said. "So the person you asked to cut off your legs was…"

"Black Lotus. Stronger, nobler, and kinder than anyone. She's one of my only two friends."

"And who's the other one?" the white wolf asked.

Sky Raker simply smiled. "You'll find out soon. Let's get some sleep."

* * *

**The Next Morning (Accelerated World)**

Sky Raker woke the sleeping wolves up at around 5 AM. After that, they switched back to their human forms, had some breakfast before following the sky-blue avatar outside.

"So now what?" Black Wolf questioned.

"I think the best way for you two to learn how to use the Incarnate System is through battle," Sky Raker replied.

"So Wolf and I have to fight each other?"

The former member of Nega Nebulus shook her head. "No, not that. In order for you two to figure out how to access the Incarnate System, you'll need to be pushed to your limits. Luckily, I called the perfect sparring partner."

Graphite Edge raised an eyebrow. "Okay," he said in suspicion. "Who is it?"

Suddenly a black stone gateway emerged near the house. It had an eerie aura around it. The double doors then opened, revealing a black Duel Avatar who marched out. The avatar was a muscular male and had black armor with green outlines, the helmet resembling a dog with green eye lenses. He had long spikey gray hair and a black tail.

The SAO Survivors were immediately on guard as they sensed a powerful presence coming from the new arrival, who was slowly drawing closer to them.

"Black Wolf, Graphite Edge," Sky Raker said calmly, completely unfazed, "meet your sparring partner… Dark Cerberus."

"Dark Cerberus?!" the duo exclaimed in shock. They instantly recognized that name. Another Burst Linker had warned them several months ago that a powerful level 8 player named Dark Cerberus was looking for the Black King, Black Lotus, for some unknown reason.

Black Wolf balled his hands into fists and clenched his teeth. "Why him of all people?!"

"So you're Black Wolf and Graphite Edge?" Dark Cerberus stated as he folded his arms. "I'm not impressed. I should be grinding for some extra Burst Points, not training some amateurs. The only reason I'm doing this is because I owe Sky Raker a lot."

"Tch," Graphite Edge grunted. "This just got more complicated."

**To be continued**

* * *

**And Dark Cerberus finally appears! I'm looking forward to writing his interactions with Marth and Kirito as they battle. And it looks like a certain demon is plotting something. What'll happen next? Well, we'll find out in the next chapter. See you guys next time.**


	24. The Darkness Duo

**April 18th, 2057**

Morgan was wandering through the base's halls, tome in hand. From what she heard, this was the same base that Zarc had used during the Demon War, which was a few miles outside of Tokyo. The human forces were never able to find this place since they were more focused with defending Tokyo than locating the Demon King, so the base should still be usable, at least for now.

"There you are, Morgan."

The half-demon sorceress turned and saw none other than Arcanos behind her.

"Arcanos," she said coldly. "What do you want?"

The red-haired demon simply sneered. "You're as cold as ever. I just wanted to show you something interesting."

Morgan raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "What is it? I'm busy with other things."

"Oh, this won't take too long. This way."

Arcanos led the half-demon into a nearby room that had several dark mages and Serra inside. The mages had Serra surrounded and she was standing on a red magic circle.

"What are you plotting?" Morgan asked in suspicion.

"Serra's performance back in Okinawa was less than desirable, so we decided to give her an 'upgrade' of sorts," Arcanos explained. "We're going to empower her with demon essence."

The sorceress held her breath in disbelief. "Are you insane?! No human has ever survived such a procedure," she argued. "You'll kill her."

"I don't need your pity, Morgan," Serra objected. "I _volunteered_ for this. I'll do whatever it takes to get my revenge on Marth."

Morgan tightened her grip on her book to the point that the tips of her fingers turned white. While she didn't care about Serra, she could somewhat sympathize with her goals, but Morgan felt that this might be too much. While transferring demon essence into humans does make them more powerful, none of them have ever lasted very long as their bodies just couldn't handle the strain of their new powers. Plus, there's a high chance that the process can't be reversed.

Arcanos simply sneered. "I'm glad to hear it, Serra. Once the procedure is done, we'll see how you stack against the Dark Swordsman again. Now, begin!"

The dark mages began chanting in an unknown language, causing the magic circle to light up.

"Gaaaah!" Serra exclaimed in pain as her body was infused with the power of hell itself. Her body was also surrounded by a black aura.

"I hope you can find a way to increase your pain tolerance, Serra," Arcanos said cynically. "This is going to be a long night for you."

Morgan felt some pity for the human girl. She didn't have the heart to watch this self-inflicted torture, so she turned and left the room. Arcanos saw her leaving but chose to do nothing and just kept watching the procedure.

The sorceress returned to her quarters and locked the door behind her. "This Marth seems to be quite interesting," Morgan said to herself. She waved her left hand, causing the crystal ball on her desk to project a hologram of the Dark Swordsman.

She couldn't help but crack a light smile as she stared at the hologram. "Not only did he defeat Chrome Disaster largely by himself, he even defeated Zarc. I might have to take a more active role in observing him."

* * *

Graphite balled his fists tightly as he glared at Dark Cerberus.

_"This is the same guy that's been hunting down Kuroba for the last few months,"_ the metal avatar thought to himself. _"What's Sky Raker thinking inviting him?!"_

"What's the meaning of this, Sky Raker?!" Black Wolf exclaimed in anger. "Don't you realize who that guy is?!"

"I am quite aware of who Cerberus is, but he has been a good friend to me for the last year," Sky Raker replied. "I'm sure he'll be able to help you two learn how to use the Incarnate System."

"Don't bother defending me, Sky," Dark Cerberus spoke up, his arms crossed across his chest. "I don't need them to like me. Especially you, Wolf. Word in the Accelerated World is that you're Black Lotus's protégé."

Black Wolf narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. What about it?"

Dark Cerberus simply sneered. "Then I'm gonna enjoy crushing you. What better way for me to draw out the Black King than to beat up her protégé?"

Black Wolf immediately got into a defensive stance as he grabbed the hilts of his swords. "Sorry, but I don't go down so easily," he said in a serious tone.

"We'll see."

Suddenly Cerberus charged at Wolf at high-speed, swinging his right fist towards the latter's stomach. Somehow Wolf was able to draw Lunara and blocked Cerberus's fist with the flat of the blade. However, Graphite noticed that his partner was actually struggling to hold back the attack.

"Impressive reaction time," Cerberus commented. "This fight might actually be interesting."

Wolf gritted his teeth as he put his left hand on the back of Lunara's blade in an attempt to repel his opponent's fist. Suddenly Cerberus delivered a swift kick to Wolf's stomach, sending the latter flying back a few feet.

"Wolf!" Graphite Edge exclaimed in worry before drawing his swords and charged at the dark avatar.

Graphite unleashed a flurry of slashes on Cerberus, but barely any of them managed to land on his opponent, which made a few scratches in Cerberus's armor. All other attacks were either dodged or blocked by Cerberus's arms.

"Not good enough!" Dark Cerberus declared before slashing his claw-like hands into Graphite's chest, damaging the metal armor and knocking the latter flat on the ground.

"Gaah!" Graphite exclaimed in pain. He struggled to get up onto one knee and saw Cerberus preparing to slash at him again.

Suddenly a metallic black wolf pounced onto Cerberus and bit into his neck, causing Cerberus to grunt in pain and confusion. Graphite simply smirked as he recognized who the wolf was.

"Get…off…you stupid mutt!" Cerberus shouted in anger as he grabbed the wolf's mid-section and attempted to pry the beast off of him.

"I'm not a mutt," the wolf spoke up. "Bolt Strike!"

Suddenly Black Wolf became surrounded by an aura of purple lightning, inflicting damage onto Cerberus before he managed to pull Wolf off of him. However, Black Wolf wasn't done as he ran at Cerberus again and tackled him in the stomach, sending Cerberus flying back a few feet, but he managed to land on his feet. After that, Wolf returned to his human form, his swords already drawn.

Dark Cerberus's eyes flashed a sinister green. "You'll pay for that. Time for me to go all out."

Graphite Edge got back on his feet and stood by his partner. "Bring it!" he said in challenge.

The opposing sides charged at each other once more, with Sky Raker watching intently. The former Nega Nebulus member was impressed at seeing Wolf and Graphite's teamwork and coordination. Whenever Cerberus attacked, either Wolf or Graphite would counter with a sword skill, before the other moved in to attack Cerberus.

This "Switch" technique did give Cerberus trouble at first, but soon he was able to react in time to block both attacks to minimize damage to himself. Graphite and Wolf must have known that this wouldn't be enough to win as they began attacking Cerberus from the sides, though they couldn't avoid taking damage from Cerberus's counterattacks.

In-between attacks, Graphite checked his top-left peripheral and saw that special-attack gauge was almost at eighty percent. _"Just a little more, then I can finish this with Starburst Stream,"_ he thought to himself.

"Enough!" Dark Cerberus suddenly shouted, creating a powerful shockwave that knocked Graphite and Wolf back.

"What the…?" Wolf said in disbelief.

"Raaaa!" Cerberus roared as his right hand was surrounded by a dark green aura.

"Here it comes," Sky Raker whispered to herself.

The green aura extended into a long blade, which was nearly as tall as Cerberus himself. The blade itself was black, but the edges of it were a deep green.

Both Graphite and Wolf were shocked from the sight. At first they assumed it was a special attack, but Cerberus never called out a name, which was mandatory in order to use special attacks.

"What kind of attack is that?!" Black Wolf exclaimed.

Graphite Edge gasped in realization as he recalled what the purpose of this fight was. "No way. Is that the power of Cerberus's imagination?" he questioned quickly. "Is he using the Incarnate System?"

"Try blocking this, weaklings!" Dark Cerberus shouted in anger. "My Oblivion Blade!"

Cerberus became like a black blur before reappearing right in front of Wolf and Graphite. The duo was still recovering from their shock, making them unable to react in time to defend. Dark Cerberus swung his blade horizontally, striking both Wolf and Graphite in the waist and sending them flying off of the tower.

Graphite Edge barely had any HP left, but he managed to recover his senses so he could activate his wings to slow his descent. Wolf did the same soon after and together they flapped their Spriggan wings furiously to stop falling.

"And don't even think about flying back up here!" Dark Cerberus shouted, his voice booming in the air. "Not unless you want to get blown off again!"

After what felt like hours, which was really about a minute, Wolf and Graphite were able to stop their descent and began to hover. They both looked physically and mentally exhausted, no doubt from them trying desperately to withstand Cerberus's Incarnate Attack and not black out from the pain.

"Tch." Graphite Edge clenched his teeth in frustration. "Damn, he's strong. Looks like the rumors of him being as strong as the Six Kings were true after all."

"Yeah," Wolf reluctantly agreed. "That Incarnate Attack was something else. I've never seen an attack that powerful before. What are we…" Suddenly Wolf tensed up as he felt the air around them change. "Crap. The wind's picking up!"

Graphite's eyes became as big as saucers as his partner pointed to the oncoming windstorm that was drawing closer. "Not good. We fell to the halfway point of the tower. There's no way we can make it back up in time. We need to do something fast!"

Black Wolf rapidly thought about possible solutions. He could attempt to shield himself and his partner with Stormveil, but that would deplete his special-attack gauge by forty percent, which was decreasing already because of his wings. If he attempted that, he'd run the risk of his special-attack gauge depleting too soon, causing him to fall and be at the mercy of the wind.

_"Can't risk that,"_ Wolf thought to himself. _"We need to anchor ourselves to something and just wait it out. And luckily for us, we've got the perfect object to do that with."_

"Thrust your swords into the tower!" Black Wolf exclaimed. "That should keep us from getting blown away!"

"Got it!" Graphite replied.

Graphite followed his partner to the side of the Old Tokyo Tower, and in perfect sync, they embedded their swords into the reddish-brown stone as deep as they could before dismissing their wings. They then used the martial arts skill, Crescent Moon, (which was a vertical kick) to embed their feet into the tower for more support.

_"Please work,"_ Graphite Edge thought desperately. _"I know neither Marth or my avatars have high air resistance, but I don't want to get blown off!"_

"Brace yourself, Kirito!" Wolf shouted at the top of his lungs as the roar of the wind grew louder. "Here it comes!"

The dual wielders steadied their breathing, somehow managing to calm themselves right before the strong, roaring wind struck them. The wind threatened to shake them both loose, but Graphite and Wolf stayed firm and tightened their grip on their swords even further. Eventually the wind finally stopped, allowing the boys to release the breaths they've been holding.

"That was a close one," Graphite said before giving his partner a light smile. "Nice thinking, Marth."

Wolf returned the gesture and said, "Thanks. Hard to believe that actually worked. Do you think that could have been the Incarnate System at work?"

Graphite Edge shrugged. "I don't know. All I thought of was staying anchored to the tower and not get blown off."

"Same. Did our willpower keep us still?"

"Willpower?" Graphite Edge whispered to himself. He found himself thinking about a fateful duel he and Marth participated in. A duel that brought the death game that was Sword Art Online to an end.

Suddenly the duo felt a strange high-frequency buzz shake the air. Another sound soon echoed in the air, which was like an infinite number of individual bells ringing at once, its source coming from the east. Graphite and Wolf turned their heads to the east, where they saw a shining aurora pouring from the sky to the ground below.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Wolf said in frustration. "A Change?! Now?!"

Black Wolf was justified in his anger. The Change, or Transition, is a massive phenomenon that transformed the entire Unlimited Neutral Field. The Change acts as a way for Brain Burst to replenish the defeated Enemies and alter the field's theme. It also repairs any stage destruction that was caused during the interval, like say, two Burst Linkers anchoring their swords and feet into a stone tower to withstand the strong wind.

"We need to move now!" Graphite Edge shouted.

"You think?!"

Graphite and Wolf started trying to pull their swords and feet out of the stone tower as the aurora drew closer. Unfortunately, the swords were being incredibly stubborn and refused to budge even an inch.

"Come on! Move!" Black Wolf said in anger.

The swordsmen grew more desperate as the aurora getting very close. Sadly, they were too late as the multicolored light filled their vision and the sounds of bells overwhelmed their ears. Immediately afterward, Graphite and Wolf's swords were forced out of the stone wall, causing the duo to fall again. They quickly activated their wings again and attempted to stop their descent, unfortunately they ended up crashing into the ground, taking out the last of their HP.

"Well, that was pathetic," Dark Cerberus said in a somewhat mocking tone as he looked down from the edge of the tower, seeing two black pillars of light appear from where the sword users crashed. Sky Raker was right behind him. "They should've let themselves die from the first fall."

"Be nice," Sky Raker lightly scolded. "I'm quite impressed they managed to withstand the wind. But…" She suddenly paused, causing Cerberus to face her.

"What is it?" Cerberus questioned.

"Black Wolf… His swords look familiar. I'm pretty sure I've seen them somewhere before."

Dark Cerberus held his chin with his right hand as he thought about it. "Yeah. Now that you mention it, I think I've seen those swords before too. Plus, there's his wolf form. But where did I see them before?" Cerberus felt that he was close to realizing something important.

* * *

Dying in the Unlimited Neutral Field sucks. When you die, the area around you becomes a monotonic black and white, your body becomes see-through like smoke, and while you can move (at least in a haphazard way), you couldn't go no further than about ten meters from the spot where you died. But the thing that really sucked about dying is that you had to wait for one hour before you'll respawn. The countdown appears in the center of your vision in digital numbers. The environment's colors would only return to normal once the countdown reached zero.

Graphite Edge was twitching in annoyance as he waited for the countdown to end. Soon an hour had passed, but for Graphite it felt five times as long, and the Darkness Duo was resurrected.

Black Wolf rubbed his wrists while also looking down at the decent-sized craters that he and his partner made. "Well that happened," he said. Wolf then placed his right hand on his waist and looked up at the old Tokyo Tower, which had transformed into a steel spire, covered with overlapping metal plates shining blue-black.

"The Demon City stage," Graphite Edge spoke up. "This stage is very similar to the Sunshine City stage where we fought Chrome Disaster in."

"Yeah," Black Wolf replied. "Since we died, our special-attack gauges have reset to zero. Do you think we could use our swords to climb the wall?"

"And risk getting our swords stuck again, no thanks," Graphite Edge said in slight annoyance. "I think only Lotus can slice this wall like butter. We'll need to find another way up."

Suddenly a bloodcurdling screech echoed in the air. Graphite and Wolf turned around and saw that it was an Enemy. The Enemy was a very large skeletal centipede with an elongated skull for a head and had red shining eyes. The majority of its bones, mainly its arms, legs and rib cage, also resembled scythes.

The SAO Survivors gasped in shock, their eyes as big as dinner plates.

"It can't be," Black Wolf said in fear. "The Skull Reaper?! Here?! Why is it here in the Accelerated World?!"

Wolf was justified to be shocked. The Skull Reaper was the 75th Floor Boss in Sword Art Online and was one of the deadliest bosses in that game. It took forever for the Assault Team to kill it because of its impossibly high stats, but it could kill multiple high-level players with just one hit. By the time the Floor Boss was finally killed, fourteen players had lost their lives.

Graphite Edge gritted his teeth in frustration. "I don't know, but luck really isn't on our side today." He then gasped as an idea popped in his head. But before he could share it with his partner, the Skull Reaper screeched before charging at them at high-speed, prompting the duo to take cover in a nearby building.

The Skull Reaper roared in outrage and began hacking at the walls, which groaned as it struggled to withstand the Enemy's attacks. They had about thirty seconds before the metal walls would give in, and that was being hopeful.

"Marth, I've got an idea," Graphite said quickly. "Let's fight the Reaper."

Black Wolf stared wide-eyed at his partner. "Are you crazy, Kirito?! We can't beat that thing on our own! We'd be lucky to even take out its first HP gauge, and that's _if_ its stats haven't changed at all."

"We don't have to beat it," Graphite Edge replied. "We just need to survive long enough for us to charge up our special-attack gauges so we can fly away."

Wolf pressed his lips together in hesitation. The groaning from the walls were getting louder and were starting to bend. Time was running out.

After a few seconds, Wolf let out a sigh in defeat. "Alright. Just be careful. Your defense is way worse than it was back in Aincrad."

Graphite gave his best friend a forced smile. "I'll be fine. We'll just protect each other like always." The Skull Reaper screeched again as it readied one last attack to break through the small building its prey was hiding in. "Ready?"

"Ready."

Right as the Skull Reaper slashed at the building with its arm scythes, cutting through the blue-black metal, Graphite Edge and Black Wolf morphed into their beast forms and sprinted out of the collapsing building. The skeletal Enemy let out a screech before giving chase to the wolves.

Black Wolf eyed his partner and nodded his head, causing the white wolf to return the gesture. Graphite Edge circled around and charged at the Skull Reaper, prompting the Enemy to defend with a diagonal slash with its right scythe. The white wolf met the scythe head on, the bone weapon barely biting into the wolf's head.

"Ngh," Graphite groaned in pain as he struggled to keep his footing as the reaper swung its other scythe towards his side. He was grateful that his wolf form had incredibly high physical defense (as well as a medium attack and speed boost) at the cost of low magical defense.

Suddenly a black blur smashed into the Skull Reaper's chest, sending the Enemy flying back a few feet.

"Thanks, Marth."

"Anytime, partner." Normally Black Wolf's beast form had terrible physical defense, but he had incredibly high magical defense, and a medium boost in attack and speed to compensate. However, when he and Graphite were near each other while both being in their wolf forms, not only are their strengths augmented, but their weaknesses were nearly nullified. One would think that this ability was broken, but there were some handicaps to their wolf forms. The most obvious of all is that they can't use any sword skills, but most of their magic attacks are also unavailable. The few spells that they did have access were only decent at best, but it did give them some versatility. The only problem is, they need those spells were special moves in Brain Burst, and right now Graphite and Wolf barely had any charge in their special-attack gauge.

"This is gonna be a long battle," Black Wolf said as he watched the Skull Reaper pick itself back up.

"Yeah, but at least we don't have to deal with true death here," Graphite replied.

"True."

The two metallic wolves ran at the Enemy, which charged at them in turn. Unbeknownst to them, however, a lone red-haired woman was watching them from a nearby rooftop. She had a black long-sleeved tunic with red trimming, a white undershirt, red gloves, red and black pants, and black heeled leather boots. She also had a red mask that covered her eyes and nose. The woman simply watched as the Burst Linkers did battle with the Skull Reaper, keeping a very close eye on the black wolf.

Graphite and Wolf took advantage of their smaller size to nimbly evade the Skull Reaper's scythes while countering with their bites and tackles before retreating. However, they didn't always escape unscathed, every now and then, the Reaper's bone blades would strike either of the wolves' sides or backs. The battle seemed to be at a stalemate, but both Graphite Edge and Black Wolf knew that it wouldn't last.

The Skull Reaper had way more HP than either Burst Linker, and way higher stats. The only reason they've lasted this long without dying was the buffs Graphite and Wolf received from being in their wolf forms at the same time.

After fifteen minutes had passed, both Graphite and Wolf's special-attack gauges were fully charged.

"Finally!" Graphite Edge exclaimed in anticipation. "Howling Shadows!"

The white wolf unleashed a blast of shadow from his mouth at the Skull Reaper, who blocked with its arm scythes in an x-manner. The Enemy screeched in annoyance but held its ground.

"Howling Thunder!" Suddenly Black Wolf unleashed a blast of purple lightning in the same manner at the Enemy. The lightning merged with the darkness and the united breath attack began overpowering the Skull Reaper, sending it crashing into a few buildings.

"Now's our chance!" Graphite Edge shouted as he and Wolf changed back to their human forms.

The Darkness Duo quickly summoned their wings and kicked off of the ground before ascending to the top of the old Tokyo Tower. However, they soon heard the Skull Reaper shriek in rage. They both looked down and gasped as they saw that the skeletal Enemy was scaling the steel wall with its legs.

"Oh, come on!" Black Wolf cried out in outrage. "Can't we catch a freaking break already?!"

Graphite Edge found himself stumped on what to do. If they kept ascending, the Skull Reaper would follow them to Sky Raker's home, putting her at risk. He had no doubt Dark Cerberus could handle himself just fine, but Sky Raker can't move without her wheelchair.

"We've got to do something," Graphite said. "Maybe we should use the Incarnate System."

"We don't know _how_ to use the Incarnate System yet!" Wolf argued. "Any other ideas?"

Graphite Edge balled his hands tightly into fists as his mind raced to come up with a solution. Suddenly, multiple bolts of black lightning struck the Skull Reaper from behind, causing the Enemy to screech in pain as parts of its body became charred.

"What the?" Graphite said in confusion.

After a few seconds, the lightning ceased, leaving behind a badly burned Enemy. The Skull Reaper let out a weak shriek before its eyes went dark before limply sliding out of the tower's wall and fell to the ground. The reaper shattered instantly after its crash landing.

The swordsmen were simply shocked.

"What…was that?" Graphite Edge asked again.

"I don't know," Black Wolf replied slowly. "I think someone just saved us. But who could be strong enough to kill a Floor Boss with one attack?"

Graphite Edge shrugged. "Beats me. Anyway, let's get back to Sky Raker. We need to finish our training."

"Y-yeah," Wolf replied.

Graphite began flying back up to Sky Raker's house, while Wolf stayed where he was as he stared intently at the surface.

_"That lightning,"_ Wolf thought to himself. _"It was way stronger than my lightning. I didn't think that was possible. Just who saved us and why?"_

Wolf heard his partner calling for him, prompting him to dismiss his thoughts and begin ascending back to Sky Raker's house.

On the surface, however, the woman from before had a light smile on her face, lowering her outstretched right hand. "That was a close one," she said in relief. "Don't worry, Frank. I'll keep you safe, even in this world."

A red magic circle appeared right below her feet, causing the woman to disappear in a burst of light.

* * *

**Later**

"Took you guys long enough," Dark Cerberus said in frustration. He, Wolf, Graphite, and Sky Raker were gathered in the garden as the sun was slowly descending towards the horizon. "Just how long does it take for you two to charge up your special-attack gauges?"

Black Wolf narrowed his eyes and glared daggers at the level 8 Burst Linker. "Sorry if we wasted your precious time," he said sarcastically, not bothering to hide his frustration. "It's not like Graphite and I narrowly avoided getting killed by a powerful Enemy down there."

Dark Cerberus simply scoffed. "Am I supposed to feel sorry for you or something because of that? Do you need Black Lotus to hold your hand?"

"Why you…?!"

Literal sparks were being exchanged between Wolf and Cerberus as they butted heads. They were both growling at each other too.

"Calm down, Wolf," Graphite Edge said in a panic. "This isn't like you."

Even in the Accelerated World, Marth had always maintained a cool demeanor and rarely showed anger, even when provoked. Seeing his best friend get riled up so easily was strange to say the least.

"Just leave them be," Sky Raker said calmly. "It'll leave their systems soon."

Graphite Edge faced the sky-blue avatar in confusion. "What will?"

"Dark Cerberus has an alpha ability that's built into his avatar," Sky Raker explained. "It doesn't really have any benefits, besides giving him a strong presence that can be sensed by certain individuals. Looks like Black Wolf has the same ability too."

"Okay. What does that mean?" he asked, still looking confused.

"Whenever two Burst Linkers with the alpha ability meet, they are more easily agitated, especially towards each other. They basically try to show their dominance over the other."

"Oh, like two alpha wolves fighting for leadership for the pack," Graphite Edge said, finally understanding. He let out a chuckle. "I guess that's kind of fitting for Wolf to have. So either Wolf or Cerberus have to show dominance over the other for this to stop?"

"Either that or come to a truce," Sky Raker replied. "Something tells me that neither of which will be happening today."

"Hmph!" Cerberus and Wolf grunted in sync as they turned away from each other in frustration.

"Now then," Sky Raker said soothingly. "Black Wolf, Graphite Edge, why do you two think you weren't sent flying by the wind two hours ago?"

Black Wolf faced the female avatar in surprise. "Huh? You saw that from way up here?" he questioned.

"Of course, we saw," Dark Cerberus replied. "It was pretty funny seeing you and Graphite fall when the Change happened."

"What was that?!" Black Wolf retorted before glaring daggers at Cerberus.

"Cerberus!" Sky Raker said firmly. "That's enough. This is important."

Dark Cerberus actually flinched and lowered his head. "I'm having some fun," he passed off.

Sky Raker's eyes narrowed under her hat. "Cerberus. Apologize…now."

All three male avatars found themselves reeling back in slight fear as a fierce presence came from the sky-blue avatar.

"Ngh," Dark Cerberus grunted before sighing in defeat. "Fine. I'm sorry. I'll stop provoking Wolf…for now."

"Good," Sky Raker replied in a regular tone.

Graphite Edge felt some sweat run down his neck. _"That was pretty intense. Are all of the Black Legion's former members this scary?"_

"Now back to my earlier question," Sky Raker continued as if nothing had happened. "Wolf, Graphite, why do you think you weren't sent flying by the wind?"

"Uh…" Graphite Edge turned towards his partner, who looked as stumped as him. "Was it because Wolf and I anchored ourselves to the tower with our swords?"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Um…"

Suddenly Black Wolf said, "When I anchored myself to the tower, I found myself thinking that I wouldn't be blown away, believing it. That no matter how strong the wind blew, I'd stay right where I was."

Sky Raker's face lit up as she smiled. "Excellent. You used your imagination to keep yourself safe from the wind. That's the Incarnate System at work!"

Black Wolf's eyes widened in disbelief. "Really? Just like that?"

"Don't get too excited," Dark Cerberus spoke up. "That was barely a fraction of the Incarnate System's capabilities. It takes a lot of willpower and imagination to take full advantage of the Incarnate System."

"Willpower?" Graphite Edge muttered before gasping in realization as a particular memory resurfaced in his mind. "Wait, could that have been…?"

Black Wolf turned to his partner in concern. "What is it, Graphite?"

"I think we might have used the Incarnate System before, a long time ago," Graphite Edge explained. "I doubt it was true Incarnation, but might have been a sort of proto version of it."

Black Wolf just looked confused. "What are you talking about? Where could we have used Incarnation before?"

Graphite Edge was silent for a moment as he was hesitant to say it with Sky Raker and Dark Cerberus right here. But this was something he had to say, even if it risks their true identities being revealed.

"Aincrad, the floating castle of Sword Art Online," he said firmly.

The other three gasped in shock, especially Wolf.

"Impossible," Sky Raker said in disbelief. "There's no way that SAO could have had an Incarnate System. Plus, that game came out thirty-five years ago and deleted itself once it was cleared two years after its release. How could you two have been in that game?"

Neither Graphite nor Wolf answered. Instead their minds focused on the final battle against Heathcliff and Zelgius, aka Akihiko Kayaba and Brandon Lowell, the co-creators of Sword Art Online and the reason it became a death game. Mainly, near the end of the fight.

The duel was going pretty well until Kirito and Marth had lost focus for a brief second and accidently unleashed the 27-hit Dual-Wielding skill, The Eclipse, the highest level Dual-Wielding sword skill. As the game creators, Kayaba and Brandon knew all the attacks of the sword skill, allowing them to easily block it and easily prepare to finish the Darkness Duo off with a sword skill of their own during the latter's post-motion delay.

However, Asuna and Yuuki used their own bodies as shields to protect the boys, sacrificing themselves in the process. It turned out afterward that Kayaba and Brandon made sure that neither of the girls' NerveGears would kill them if their HP reached zero after the duel, but Kirito and Marth didn't know at the time.

Both swordsmen gave into despair and allowed Kayaba and Brandon to kill them. However, that's when a miracle happened.

"I believe in you, Kirito." The Black Swordsman remembered as one of Asuna's last words to him before she shattered into polygons in his arms.

"Don't give up the fight, Marth!" Those wore the words the Dark Swordsman had heard from his first love in his memories.

The system declared the Darkness Duo dead and prepared to delete their avatars immediately, but somehow that process was delayed. Kirito and Marth, their bodies stone-cold, found it nearly impossible to move. However, there was some warmth that they felt. It was the swords they held in their left hands, for Kirito it was Asuna's Lambent Light, and Marth it was Yuuki's Macuahuitl, the swords of their loved ones.

With the strength they had left, Marth and Kirito focused all of their concentration into moving their left arms to attack the game masters, who could only watch in shock as the Darkness Duo refused to die.

"Not yet," Kirito said firmly.

"We're not done yet," Marth finished in the same tone.

The duo then lunged their left swords in sync, stabbing them right in their opponents' chests. As they did so, Kayaba and Brandon couldn't help but smile before the four of them "died" together.

Graphite and Wolf then snapped out of their memories and allowed themselves to return to the Accelerated World.

"No way," Black Wolf said in disbelief. "So we've been unknowingly using Incarnation since all the way back in Aincrad?"

"It was more like a Proto-Incarnation than a true Incarnation," Graphite Edge explained. "Not even Kayaba and Brandon could've created the Incarnate System back then. It's more like a simple exploit, our willpower overriding the system."

"Override?" Sky Raker questioned.

Graphite Edge looked down and stared at his left palm. "I think I get it now. It wasn't power that allowed us to do that, it was our feelings, the memories of Asuna and Yuuki cheering us on that allowed us to tie with Heathcliff and Zelgius back in Aincrad. So the true power of Incarnation…"

"Is our feelings and memories," Black Wolf finished. "Let's test it out."

"Yeah."

Dark Cerberus and Sky Raker watched as Graphite Edge and Black Wolf walked out of the garden and drew their right swords. The swordsmen also made sure to face away from the house.

"I am so confused right now," Cerberus admitted. "Did anything they say make any sense to you, Sky?"

Sky Raker didn't answer right away as her eyes widened. "It can't be. Are they…?"

Moving in perfect sync, Graphite and Wolf lifted their black swords to the level of their shoulders, laid it perfectly flat, and pulled back. Their left hands providing catapulting leverage.

"Aim for the edge?" Black Wolf questioned.

"The edge," Graphite confirmed as they turned their stance to the right and lowered their waists.

If their theory was right, that the strength of one's will and feelings can augment the power and abilities of a duel avatar in this world, then it's possible that it can be applied to the sword skills ingrained into their muscle memory. But on the other hand, it also meant that negative emotions, such as fear and hesitation could weaken them. Wolf experienced such a thing when he nearly went into Zero-Fill when Chrome Disaster showed itself.

There was a strong, fundamental desire within Graphite and Wolf to distance themselves from the Kirito and Marth avatars they had trained back in SAO: the Darkness Duo and the Dual-Wielding masters. There two reasons why they desired such a thing. The first was that neither of them wanted to be treated as heroes. The other reason was guilt over the players they had failed to save or had killed.

Wolf had come to terms with his Dark Swordsman persona during the battle with Chrome Disaster, and now it was Graphite's turn to do the same. No matter how much the metal avatar disliked it, Kirito the Black Swordsman was a part of him. It helped shape him into who he was now and gave him strength.

The same man who had fought in that world, where losing was not an option, the same him, was still here.

The sword skill the duo was preparing to use is special. It's a move that both Black Swordsman and the Dark Swordsman knew best and used the most often. It was practically their signature move, aside from one other move.

The sun was nearing the edge of the horizon, making the sky gain an orange hue. Sky Raker and Dark Cerberus simply watched with bated breath, neither of them daring to speak a single word.

Graphite and Wolf held their swords at shoulder height, their right arms pulled back as far as they could go. The preliminary motion immediately kicked in and turned the blades red as blood. The system began moving their bodies automatically. Their feet moved wide apart before launching off the floor. The acceleration funneled into their rotation, moving through their backs into their right shoulders. The rotation went back into a straight motion, bursting through the duo's right arms into their swords like they were an extension of the blades.

The two black swords began unleashing the metallic roar of a jet engine before being surrounded by a shining crimson light that quickly surrounded their wielders like a flame. The sword skill they were using, was none other than the one-hit Vorpal Strike.

This sword skill was used so often by the Darkness Duo in SAO because of its incredible power and had a range that was almost unfair for a one-handed sword attack. The crimson effect carved through a space that was about twice the length of the blade itself, and when combined with the full reach of their arms, it could sometimes outdistance even a long spear.

The edge of the tower was around fifty feet, meaning a normal Vorpal Strike would never reach it. That meant that Graphite and Wolf had to use their imagination, the Incarnate System, to extend their range by at least five times its range.

They both knew it wouldn't be easy, but for the sake of their friends and stopping Seiji, they'll do whatever it takes. They couldn't fail, they just couldn't.

_"No matter what happens,"_ Graphite Edge thought to himself, _"I will always be Kirito, the Black Swordsman!"_

"Rrraaaahhh!" Graphite and Wolf bellowed as they prepared to attack.

At that moment, their right gauntlet morphed into a fingerless black glove, as though it had seeped out of the very air. Their armor then changed into a smooth black leather before turning into a long coat and slim-fitting pants, the studded hem whipping wildly. Wolf's visor and Graphite's helmet also disappeared, revealing their faces while their black hair grew a little longer. Graphite's swords also changed into Elucidator and Dark Repulser. They had changed into Marth and Kirito of the Darkness Duo.

"It can't be!" Dark Cerberus exclaimed in shock. Sky Raker was also speechless.

Marth and Kirito's bangs were flapping wildly like the collars of their coats, and their eyes were filled with a deadly seriousness.

"Rraaaahh!" the Darkness Duo growled as they unleashed their power.

Lunara and Elucidator's red light rapidly increased in intensity, and then Marth and Kirito shot their sword hands forward, the long hem of their blackwyrm coats flapping behind them like monstrous wings.

The crimson light from the black swords then shot forward, passing by the garden and reached the edge of the tower in an instant, before extending for another ten feet until the blades of light finally dissolved into red light.

Kirito and Marth's right arms were extended as far as they could go. The light effect from Vorpal Strike had faded, and the tails of their coats flapped one more time before going still. Right after that, they reverted back to Graphite Edge and Black Wolf before letting their right arms drop until the tips of their swords landed on the ground.

"We…did it," Wolf said slowly.

"Yeah," Graphite replied. "But I think we just exposed our secret."

The duo turned and saw Sky Raker and Dark Cerberus approach them.

"Well, well," Sky Raker said, her voice containing some pride in it. "That was very good. But I guess I should've expected no less from you two, Graphite Edge, Black Wolf. Or should I say, Kirito and Marth, the legendary Darkness Duo."

Something told the SAO Survivors that this was going to be a long night.

**To be continued**

* * *

**Looks like Sky Raker and Dark Cerberus know Marth and Kirito's true identities now. I wonder how that will affect things. Anyway, I'll see you guys next time!**

**Gates of Hell- an Enhanced Armament that is owned by Dark Cerberus. They allow him to instantly travel to preset locations with no penalty and can be used as part of a special move.**


	25. The Plan

**April 18th, 2057**

Dark Cerberus couldn't believe it. Black Wolf and Graphite Edge were Marth and Kirito, the legendary Darkness Duo who cleared the death game that was Sword Art Online and went missing after the Demon War. Cerberus was one of the many who believed that the Demon War truly happened and actually admired them.

He never would've thought that he'd meet his heroes here in the Accelerated World, and now he wishes that he hadn't. Both Wolf and Graphite have sided with Cerberus's sworn enemy, the Black King, Black Lotus. It didn't make any sense to him. Why would the Dark Swordsman and the Black Swordsman side with a monster like Lotus? Do they not know the sin that she has committed?

It didn't matter if they did or not. No one will stand in his way. He must have his vengeance for his best friend. That's the only thing that drives him now.

"Uh, not to change the subject or anything," Graphite Edge spoke up. "But didn't Cerberus threaten to knock me and Wolf out of the sky the moment we tried to get back up with our wings?"

"I was going to do that," Cerberus growled. "But Sky wanted to continue talking about the Incarnate System with you dorks, so I stayed my hand." He then got into a fighting stance, his right claw held out while his left was close to his chest. "But I'll be more than happy to do a repeat performance if that's what you want."

Wolf looked ready to utter a retort, but Sky Raker beat him to it.

"Cerberus, enough!" she said firmly. "We just found out that we're in the presence of the Darkness Duo, who went missing after the Demon War, along with their guild, the Alfheim Warriors. This isn't the time for you to start picking a fight."

Dark Cerberus let out an annoyed grunt before relenting. "Fine, but I'm out of here. I've got better things to do than waste my time with these disappointments." He began walking towards the pillar of light, most likely to log out.

"Hold it!" Black Wolf exclaimed as he ran in front of the dark avatar. "Why are you after Lotus? What did she do to you?"

Dark Cerberus's eyes flashed an eerie green. "That's rich coming from you, _Marth_ ," he said venomously. "I thought the Dark Swordsman was a person who fought to punish the wicked, not be someone's lapdog. I've lost all respect for you and Kirito."

Black Wolf took a step back in confusion. "Punish the wicked?" he questioned. "What are you talking about? I didn't fight to punish people. I fought to survive and protect my friends. Nothing else."

"What a pathetic excuse." Cerberus walked past the dual wielder before stopping a few feet behind him. "Next time we meet, it'll be as enemies. I still have yet to show you my true power. Tell your mistress that her days are numbered."

"Mistress?" Wolf muttered before realizing. "Lotus. What are you plotting?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Cerberus mocked. "I'm going to fight her, and beat her. She's going to learn the hard way that there are consequences for her actions."

Wolf was confused what that meant and watched as Cerberus disappeared into the pillar of light, returning to the real world.

"What a jerk," Graphite Edge spoke up finally as he went over to his partner. "What's his deal anyway?"

Black Wolf didn't answer as he found his mind racing to understand what Cerberus meant by consequences for Lotus's actions. What did Kuroba do that affected Dark Cerberus so badly?

One memory came to mind. It was something that Kuroba had told him after he had beaten Ash Roller in a rematch, during a celebration lunch for his first victory. _"It couldn't be…"_ Black Wolf thought to himself.

Sky Raker let out a sigh. "He's still set on getting vengeance with Black Lotus," she said in sorrow. "But I can't really blame him though. It was quite a shock to hear what she did."

Graphite Edge turned towards the sky-blue avatar and said, "Sky Raker, did you teach Cerberus how to use the Incarnate System?"

The female avatar shook her head. "I did not. By the time I had met him, Cerberus already had mastered the Incarnate System," she answered. "The person who taught him about was a Burst Linker that is no longer here. That Burst Linker…was none other than the previous Red King, Red Rider."

The Darkness Duo gasped in shock at the revelation.

"Are you serious?" Black Wolf replied. "Was Rider a friend of Cerberus's?"

Sky Raker nodded in confirmation. "Yes, they were best friends," she explained. "From what Cerberus had told me, Red Rider was his friend in real life and was also his guardian. They founded Prominence together and were rarely seen apart." She paused in reluctance. "They were quite the tag team back in the day. He was there at the meeting when Black Lotus beheaded Red Rider, banishing the Red King from the Accelerated World. Ever since then, Dark Cerberus has wanted revenge against Lotus."

Black Wolf lowered his head in silence. Whenever a Burst Linker loses all their Burst Points, Brain Burst automatically deletes itself from the player's Neurolinker and erases all memories of it and the ones made in the Accelerated World. Cherry Rook, the current Red King, Scarlet Rain's former guardian and the last user of the Armor of Catastrophe, lost all memory of the Accelerated World and Brain Burst after Scarlet used the Judgement Blow on him.

He could even sympathize with Cerberus's drive for revenge. After all, Wolf himself had wanted vengeance against one individual that he crossed swords with multiple times in Aincrad. The player who had encouraged player killing.

"Anyway," Sky Raker spoke up. "I think you two have some explaining to do. How did Lotus manage to recruit the Darkness Duo into her new formed Black Legion?"

Wolf and Graphite locked eyes and silently agreed to tell their story.

"It's a long story," Graphite said. "But I guess we've got time on our side."

* * *

It was evening by the time the dual wielders finished telling their story. Wolf, Graphite, and Raker were inside the latter's house, sitting around the kitchen table.

"So Lotus has become your other Driver, Marth," Sky Raker said with interest. "And you've managed to locate most of the Alfheim Warriors, save for Lisbeth. Then there's Arcanos, his fellow monsters, and a group of humans plotting something from the shadows. Anything I'm forgetting?"

"No, that's about it," Graphite Edge replied. "We don't know if Dusk Taker is connected to all this or not, but since he knows our true identities, it's very likely he is. We've got to beat him so we can get Verdant Fairy's wings back."

"Which led you both to me," Sky Raker finished. "I should've expected that the Darkness Duo would be able to access the Incarnate System so quickly. The power that you two possess, it's no wonder why Lotus had chosen Marth as her protégé and recruited you, Kirito."

Wolf simply chuckled as he flashed through his earlier memories with Kuroba. She sure knew how to mess with him, especially back when he was new in Brain Burst. "Well, I did save Lotus's life back when we were kids, so maybe that influenced her decision."

Sky Raker let out a giggle. "I guess only Lotus knows the true reason why she picked you as her protégé." She rested her hands on the wheelchair's armrests and tightened her grip in frustration. "I wish I could help you more, but without my legs, I can't really fight anymore."

"You've done more than enough, Sky Raker," Black Wolf replied. "Thanks to you, we might actually stand a chance against Dusk Taker. He's gonna learn what happens when you mess with the Darkness Duo."

"I don't doubt it. By the way, I never told you two that there's a word that represents the Incarnate System. Can you guess what that word is?"

Both boys were silent as they thought about it for a few moments.

"Given that the Incarnate System is all about using your willpower to change reality," Graphite Edge said finally, "I'm guessing that the word is 'overwrite'."

"That's what I think it is too," Wolf added.

Sky Raker clasped her hands together and nodded. "Correct. This one word is precisely the key to the Incarnate System. However, you can't comprehend if simply hear the word. You have to experience it yourself. The Incarnate System, in other words, the control system built into the Brain Burst program, is essentially assistive at best. It's nothing more than a system to support movement control and supplement the avatar's motion. But images released too quickly and too strongly by the consciousness can surpass even the constraints of the program and become manifest. Wheels that shouldn't turn turns, a sword thrust that can extend to over fifty feet. A resolute intention, a _will_ overwrites events."

Graphite knew that he and Wolf haven't harnessed the full power of the Incarnate System. He was curious just what they can achieve when they master this power. But that is something that will not be answered today.

"Hey Sky Raker," Graphite spoke up suddenly. "Just how long do you think it'll take us to master the Incarnate System?"

The sky-blue avatar paused to think before saying, "It depends on what you hope to achieve with the Incarnate System. If you hope to fly using Incarnation alone, that will probably take a long time. Even if you and Marth focus hard on forging yourselves in this world… I'd estimate it would probably take ten years."

"Yikes," Black Wolf said in surprise. "I think I'm good as is. Lotus warned me what would happen if I spent too long in the Accelerated World."

"That's good to hear," Sky Raker replied. "Six months, a year, you can still go back. But those who spend ten years in this world can no longer return to reality. They'll no longer care about anything happening in the real world. They quit school, forget their friends, and lock themselves up in their rooms, thinking that everything is fine as long as they have this world. More than a few such Burst Linkers roam the Unlimited Neutral Field. No longer dueling or training, they hide themselves here for the sole purpose of running away from the real world." She paused for a moment as she looked the Blade Eater in the eye. "Black Wolf. Why do you play Brain Burst?"

Graphite Edge turned his head to his partner. He was also curious what really motivated Wolf to play this game.

"At first, I didn't really care that much about the Accelerated World," Black Wolf answered. "The only reason I had decided to play this game was to find answers to my past and because I had agreed to an alliance with Lotus. But that changed after my second duel. Lotus was in danger of being attacked in the real world by a monster who went by the name, Cyan Demon. I chose to challenge Cyan Demon to save her."

Black Wolf balled his hands on the table. "At first, I did it because she had saved my life in the real world, even though I was being a jerk to her. I'm…not a very trusting person, especially back then, so I couldn't bring myself to believe that Lotus really cared about me. But," he hesitated for a moment, "her actions proved otherwise and she truly wanted to help me. It's thanks to her that I've finally come to terms with my past.

"Anyway. The reason why I play Brain Burst is because like Lotus, I want to reach level ten and learn what the true purpose of this world is." Wolf's eyes filled with resolve. "That's what motivates me to play this game now. If my actions led to the end of the Accelerated World, then so be it. At least then, I'll know it was my choice to follow this path."

"I see." Sky Raker's face broke into a warm smile. "In that case. I should try to make sure you have the edge in your upcoming battle. Black Wolf, I'll lend you my wings. My Enhanced Armament, Gale Thruster."

The Darkness Duo's eyes widened in disbelief.

"What?" Wolf questioned.

"If this Dusk Taker is who you and Kirito say he is, then he'll most likely not fight you alone," Sky Raker explained. "He'll do whatever it takes to win, especially against you two. Wouldn't it be wise to have an ace up your sleeve?"

Graphite Edge shrugged as he folded his arms. "She does have a point. Even with Incarnation, Seiji won't go down so easily. I'd rather go in overprepared than under."

Wolf glanced at his partner before moving his gaze to Sky Raker. "Okay. I'll borrow your Enhanced Armament."

Sky Raker smiled again. "Thank you. In order to transfer my Enhanced Armament to you, we'll have to meet in real life. I could sell it in the Shop so you could buy it there, but it would be very expensive so it's not a good option. How about we meet up in front of the west exit of Shinjuku Station at seven in the morning?"

Black Wolf nodded in acknowledgement. "Alright." He then let out a yawn. "I think I'm gonna log out now. We've got a big day planned tomorrow."

"Me too," Graphite Edge agreed. "Let's meet up at school tomorrow after you get Sky Raker's Enhanced Armament."

"Will do. Oh and Sky Raker, thanks for everything."

"You're very welcome," Sky Raker replied. "I'll see you tomorrow, Marth."

Black Wolf and Graphite Edge then headed for the shimmering blue portal to return to the real world.

* * *

Frank found himself back in his bedroom in the real world. He glanced at his clock and saw that only a few minutes had passed, which wasn't that surprising since he was only in the Accelerated World for a few days. Despite that though, he felt like he hadn't been home in a while.

_"Guess that's just a side effect of spending days in the Accelerated World,"_ Frank reasoned. _"I wonder how it would feel to come back to the real world after six months in that other world. Or a year? I hope that never happens to me."_

He then turned his thoughts about the Incarnate System and the power it gives. Kuroba must have known about the Incarnate System since she had once told him that he was the fastest player in the Accelerated World, even her. Sky Raker herself had described that a Burst Linker releasing mental images too quickly or strongly can override the system and achieve impossible feats.

_"I wonder,"_ Frank thought to himself. _"If I can use the powers from my avatars in the real world, can I do the same with this?"_

Frank quickly morphed into Marth (ALO form) and quietly exited his room. He saw that his parents were still asleep. Marth stealthily headed for the balcony, where he looked up at the starry night sky. No matter how many times he does this, he never finds himself not in awe of the ethereal beauty of the night. Maybe it was because Marth always found himself looking at the night sky whenever he camped out in Aincrad. Maybe it was because of the time he saw the stars from his hospital room the night he had gotten out of Sword Art Online. Either one could work, or maybe there was just something else that brought out awe from gazing at this gentle darkness.

"What are you doing up?" a female voice asked.

Marth instinctively jumped as he turned around and saw none other than his mother standing by the balcony door, her arms folded across her chest.

"M-mom," he stuttered in response. "W-why are you awake?"

Rias simply chuckled. "I believe I asked you first. But as for why I'm still up, I needed to go to the bathroom. What's your excuse? And why are you in your other form?"

"Um." Marth struggled to come up with a response. He couldn't tell her the real reason why he was awake since she didn't know about the Accelerated World, much less the Incarnate System. However, lying would be another bad idea since Rias always had this strange presence around her that always kept Marth on edge. It wasn't malicious at all, but something about his adopted mother made her feel…not human. Which is why he always made sure not to anger Rias whenever possible.

Unfortunately, this was a time where Marth had no choice but to lie to his mother.

"Um, I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd go for a late-night flight," the Spriggan replied, trying his hardest to not sound nervous.

"I see," Rias said in suspicion. "Well, you did used to do that when you were twelve. Alright, just be back before 12:00. You've got school tomorrow after all."

Marth cracked a light smile. "Thanks. I won't be gone long. I'll see you tomorrow, Mom."

Rias smiled back. "Have a nice flight." She then watched her son summon his wings and fly off. Once Marth was nearly out of sight, Rias stretched out her right arm and materialized a red magic circle in her palm. The magic circle then changed into a small ethereal red bat.

"Follow him," she told the familiar. The bat didn't respond but it instantly obeyed and flew after the Blade Eater.

It had taken her at least fifteen tries to make her familiars undetectable to her son. His Hypersense made it nearly impossible to spy on him, as he always could tell someone was watching him. The only reason why she sent those familiars after Marth whenever he did his late-night flights was so she could keep an eye on him and make sure he stayed safe. But this time was different. Arcanos and his forces have become more active over the last few months. She knew that there were plenty of monsters who would love nothing more than to get their revenge on the Dark Swordsman for Zarc's defeat.

"Maybe I should've pressed Frank to stay," Rias wondered aloud. "Too late now. I guess I'll just wait until he gets back."

The demon lord went back into the apartment and sat by the kitchen table and summoned a magic circle that allowed her to see what the bat familiar was seeing. She wouldn't go to sleep until her son was back safe and sound.

* * *

Marth kept flying until he was in the outskirts of Tokyo. He didn't want to risk getting caught by any humans, plus he wanted to minimize any collateral damage. The Dark Swordsman chanted the Spriggan night vision spell so he could see better before spotting a boulder that was about fifty feet away.

"That should do," he muttered while drawing Lunara.

Marth then proceeded to activate Vorpal Strike with the black sword. He put all his concentration into recreating what he did at Sky Raker's house. Soon he found himself surrounded by a crimson aura and the bloodred light from Lunara intensified. The Sword of Shadow also began unleashing a familiar metallic roar.

"Rraaaahh!" Marth bellowed at the top of his lungs, unaware that Rias was watching him with a shocked expression on her face.

The Dark Swordsman's ALO longcoat changed into his blackwyrm coat and his ears became rounded. Marth then lunged Lunara forward, causing the crimson light to shoot towards the boulder, striking it within a few seconds and reducing the stone to rubble.

A few seconds later, Marth reverted back to his ALO form. His eyes were wide with amazement.

"Whoa," he said slowly. "I didn't think that would really work." He then held Lunara parallel to his chest and stared into the black blade. "But…how can I do this? Is this a power from Fenrir's Core Crystal, or is this power my own?"

No answer came to him, only wonder and mystery.

Incarnation, the power to overwrite reality with willpower and/or imagination. Just how far can he go with this newfound power, and will it be enough to protect his loved ones? Only time will tell.

* * *

**That morning- April 19th, 2057**

Frank somehow managed to not make his parents suspicious with him leaving at six thirty. When he arrived at the Shinjuku Station, it was 6:55. He then stifled a yawn. He had spent the few hours he had of last night to experiment what he could do with his new-found Incarnation ability. So far, he found that he could enhance the power of his sword skills as well as their range, but he couldn't help but wonder just how far he could take it.

However, because Incarnation was the power of his will/imagination, Frank had woken up feeling mentally exhausted. He knew it would be a bad idea for him to fight Seiji in this state, so as soon as he was done here, he'll meet up with either Kazuto or Koruba at school (whoever he ran into first), and ask them to guard him while he took a quick rest in the Unlimited Neutral Field. It was surprising to find out that Brain Burst's acceleration function also affected real world fatigue. It's no wonder so many Burst Linkers were addicted to this game.

_"Speaking of which, I hope I'll be able to use Sky Raker's Enhanced Armament well,"_ he thought to himself. _"She's went out of her way to help me and Kazuto to learn the Incarnate System. I can't disappoint her."_

He then realized that he had no idea what Sky Raker looked like in real life. How was he supposed to know when she was here? Actually, the real question was why he was so being so trusting to a complete stranger and had agreed to a direct meeting in the real world.

_"Maybe this wasn't such a good id…"_

"Good morning, Marth."

Frank immediately went on guard, turned ninety degrees, and instinctively reaching behind his back for Lunara, only to grab empty air instead. He found himself face-to-face with a girl he had never seen before. She looked around his age and had long brown hair and blue eyes. She was also wearing a blue high school uniform and the upper front area of her torso was also very…voluminous, just like a certain sky-blue avatar.

She had this calm demeaner with a gentle air, and she definitely didn't seem like a regular person. It was an aura that was similar to Kuroba's and the Red King Niko's. She wasn't in a wheelchair on this side, but Frank could tell who she was.

"Someone's jumpy today," the girl said with a giggle. "You looked ready to attack someone just now. It was actually kind of cute."

Frank let out a displeased grunt as he lowered his right hand. "Sorry. I'm just a little on edge," he replied. "Anyway, good morning. But how did you know it was me."

"Incarnation, of course."

The Blade Eater raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Really?"

"I'm just kidding. I knew it was you because you look just like your avatar when you used Incarnation. You should probably be more careful when you use it, otherwise you might accidently reveal your true identity."

Frank scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, since we've met in real life, why don't we introduce ourselves? My name's Frank Storm-Furuta."

Sky Raker bowed her head in respect. "Nice to meet you, Frank," she replied. "I'm Fuko Kurasaki." She then grabbed Frank's hand, catching the Blade Eater off-guard. "Follow me. I know this great café we can go to. We can get some breakfast and transfer my Gale Thruster to you."

"Uh, okay," Frank said nervously as Fuko led him out. Truth be told, he hadn't really eaten that much back at the apartment since he had left in a rush to catch the train to Shinjuko. However, he was hesitant because there was a chance he could get seen by students from his school. He could already see the rumors that'll pop up if he and Fuko are seen together.

_"Get a hold of yourself!"_ he shouted in his head. _"You've got a girlfriend and have a lot of female friends. Hold on, most of my friends are girls. Besides Kazuto, the only male friends I have are adults. No wonder Klein kept teasing me and Kazuto when it came to girls."_

Fuko glanced at the male teen from over her shoulder. "Something wrong? You're really quiet."

"N-no, I'm just not used to this," Frank said nervously.

"What, holding hands with a pretty girl?" she said with a teasing smile.

Frank let out a groan as his cheeks went a little red. "You are so Lotus's friend."

They soon arrived at the café, where they sat down at a booth, seating directly across from each other. Fuko treated Frank to a medium oolong tea and some eggs, not taking no for an answer. She then pulled out a bundled extra-small cable from her bag, which was right next to her.

"Hey, isn't that Frank Storm?" a student from another table questioned.

"Tch," Frank grunted in annoyance as he noticed several students staring at him and Fuko.

"Who's that girl he's with?" another student asked at the same table. "Could he be cheating on Kuroyukihime?"

"Oh, crap he's looking this way. You don't think he heard us, do you?"

Frank rubbed the bridge of his nose with his right hand as he tried to ignore the other students gossiping. "This is why I avoid places like this. I get enough flack as is. This is just gonna add fuel to the fire."

"Let them think what they want," Fuko replied as their food and drinks arrived.

Fuko plugged one end of her cable into the silver-white Neurolinker peeking out over the collar of her blazer before offering the other end to Frank. The Blade Eater hesitated for a moment before plugging it into his Neurolinker, ignoring people's remarks for his actions. They then began eating their meal in silence.

_"Are you sure you want to give me your Enhanced Armament?"_ Frank questioned.

_"Yes,"_ Fuko answered firmly. _"I can't help but feel like you'll need it in your upcoming battle. And besides…Kuroba wouldn't have chosen you as her protégé if she didn't feel like she could trust you. If she can trust you, then I will too."_

Frank nearly spat out his oolong tea in surprise. _"You…you know her real name?"_

Fuko nodded her head in confirmation. _"Of course I do. There were a few members of the original members of Nega Nebulus that would meet in real life, me and Kuroba were two of them. Revealing one's real life identity to another Burst Linker is always a risk. You never know if the person you reveal yourself to will leak it or not. However, if you both know each other's real names, then they can't leak it because you could easily do the same to them."_

_"Kuroba told me about that."_ Frank took a sip of his oolong tea. _"Anyway, shall we get started?"_

Fuko nodded before they both said, "Burst Link".

* * *

**Later**

Fuko managed to transfer her Enhanced Armament through a Direct Duel and explained its use to the Blade Eater perfectly within the 1,800-second count. When the duo had returned to the real world, it was only 7:15. After that, they finished their food and drinks before disconnecting the cable from their Neurolinkers.

"Thanks again," Frank said, finding himself smiling. "I'll take good care of your Enhanced Armament."

"I know you will," Fuko replied, smiling as well. "I wish you the best of luck in your battle with this Seiji."

The Burst Linkers then rose from their seats and exited the café. It was then that Frank noticed a strange sound every time Fuko took a step. It was very faint, but he could hear the whining of a servo.

_"Prosthetic legs,"_ Frank realized. _"Her legs are artificial and are electronically controlled with her brain and Neurolinker. So that's how far technology has come now."_

Now it made sense. Fuko longed for the sky because she couldn't walk the same as everyone else, because something had happened to her legs, likely something that was out of her control. And yet she didn't hesitate to give her wings to him, a total stranger.

When the duo reached the crosswalk, Fuko said, "You're quite kind, aren't you, Frank?"

The Black Wolf player snapped out of his thoughts and put his hands in his pockets. "If you say so."

Suddenly Frank felt a hand on his right shoulder. His eyes then met Fuko's own.

"I'm serious," Fuko continued. "You may act cold at times, but you truly care about other people. Why else would you go so far to help a friend? I didn't help you and Kirito because of pity, and I know you don't pity me."

Frank found himself glancing at the sidewalk. "Am I really that readable?"

Fuko let out a giggle. "From what you told me about your story, I think anyone can tell how harsh your life has been and how you dealt with it. You pushed people away because you didn't want to lose anyone else again. You thought you were protecting them. I only wish most Burst Linkers shared that sentiment."

"Yeah," Frank replied. "Most Burst Linkers view Brain Burst as a tool to make the real world easier. For them, duels are just a way to get points, and the Accelerated World is just a way for them to trick and trap others. But there are those who know that Brain Burst is more than that."

"Correct." Fuko's voice began shaking slightly from emotion. "Because of my foolishness, I had lost a dear friend. I deeply regret that I was part of the reason Kuroba threw herself into battle with the other kings with such extreme recklessness. But I don't want you to make the same mistakes. Please make sure you always fight to protect those you care about."

Frank closed his eyes for a brief moment before reopening them and looked straight at Fuko with resolve. "I will," he said firmly. "I promise that I'll protect my friends. Once this battle is over, I'll return your wings. However," he cracked a light smile, "I'll be fighting to protect you too, because we're friends now too."

Fuko's cheeks were tinged with red before she smiled back. "Thank you, Frank." She brought her hands to her chest. "Good luck to you. I look forward to hearing of your victory."

"Thanks." Frank began walking towards the train station before suddenly coming to a stop. "By the way, I don't think you lost your bond with Kuroba."

The brunette gasped in surprise as the Blade Eater turned and looked her in the eye.

"I'm sure Kuroba is waiting for you to come back," Frank continued. "Even now. All it takes…is that first step."

Fuko's wide eyes blinked several times before forming a faint but definite smile. Frank then waved goodbye to her before running to the train station. When he got near the station, however, he accidently bumped into someone in the shoulder. He turned to face the person and saw that it was a male teenager with short black hair and yellow eyes. He looked around Frank's age, had a slim build, and wore a navy-blue school uniform while carrying a black school bag.

"Uh, sorry," Frank said sincerely. "I was in a hurry and wasn't paying that much attention."

The young man dusted off his right shoulder and looked Frank in the eye. There was a surprising amount fierceness in them, causing the Blade Eater to mentally put his guard up.

"It's fine," the teen replied, sounding somewhat annoyed. "But be more careful next time."

The teen then walked off, likely to his school, while Frank watched him in suspicion.

_"He was a little rude,"_ he thought to himself. _"But why do I feel like I've seen him before?"_

He had to interrupt his thoughts and hurry to catch his train.

* * *

**Later**

Frank had just arrived at the gates of Umesato High School when he suddenly bumped into a familiar black-haired girl.

"There you are, Frank," Kuroba said in slight irritation, her hands resting on her waist. "Where have you been? The tardy bell's about to ring."

The Blade Eater scratched his head nervously. "Sorry, I…lost track of time," he replied. He knew he should tell her about meeting Sky Raker, but he decided to keep it a surprise. Besides, he wasn't technically lying.

Kuroba let out a huff. "Honestly," she groaned. "Do I have to go to your apartment to make sure you leave on time?"

"N-no," Frank stuttered. "This was just a one-time thing. Tomorrow will be way better, I promise."

The Black King let out a sigh. "Fine. But what made you lose track of time anyway? That's not like you."

Frank found himself struggling to come up with a response. Soon they heard the tardy bell echo in the air.

"Saved by the bell, literally," Kuroba commented. "Let's meet up with the others at lunch. We need to discuss how we're going to deal with Seiji."

The Black Wolf player nodded in acknowledgement. "Alright."

The duo then hurried into the school for class.

* * *

**Later**

Kazuto wasn't surprised when Frank told him about what he experimented with last night and took what Frank had found out to heart. He also agreed to guard his partner in the Unlimited Neutral Field so Frank could get some rest. Naturally they were done almost immediately before class really began.

"Did you get Sky Raker's Enhanced Armament?" Kazuto messaged.

"Yeah, I think it'll come in handy," Frank typed back. "By the way Kuroba wants us all to meet up for lunch to discuss how to deal with Seiji."

"Okay. Should we tell them about what Sky Raker taught us?"

Kazuto caught his partner form a slight smirk.

"How about we save it as a little surprise? Besides, something tells me Kuroba already knows about the Incarnate System."

Kazuto had to agree. Kuroba was one of the seven kings and was a veteran in the Accelerated World. It would be no surprise if she knew a few secrets about Brain Burst that she has yet to tell them. However, Kazuto knew better than to force Kuroba to tell him and the others what she knew, because that would be rude and also because she probably had a reason why she had her secrets.

Eventually the lunch bell rang, and Kazuto hurried to the cafeteria to meet up with his friends. He soon found them at a table far from the other students, he went to get some food before joining them.

"About time you got here, Kirito," Shino spoke up as the male Driver took a seat next to Asuna. "We were about to start without you."

Kuroba, who was sitting right next to Frank, cleared her throat to catch the other Legion members' attention. "Now that we're all here, let's get started. What all do we know about Seiji?"

"Not much," Meg said grimly. "His personal life is a complete mystery and he knows all of our identities."

"There's no way Seiji could've found that out on his own," Asuna voiced. "Is it possible he could be involved with Arcanos and Sulfur Pot?"

Kazuto held his chin with his right hand as he pondered for a moment. "It's possible. Actually, I think it's very likely that Seiji's associated with them. Anyway, what else do we know?"

"Seiji's Duel Avatar has the ability to steal other Burst Linkers' abilities, Enhanced Armaments and special moves," Suguha said with some bitterness in her tone, her hands balled into fists. "He said that he's stolen a lot of powers from other Burst Linkers and two of the ones he used against me was a tentacle arm and a bolt cutter arm." She then let out a gasp. "Wait, near the end of our duel, Seiji said that I nearly made him use his 'trump card'. What do you guys think it could be?"

"Hmm," Kuroba mused. "It could be a different special move or something else entirely. It'll be risky to fight him without knowing what this trump card is. I hate to say it, but one of us might have to risk dueling him to find out what this hidden power is."

Everyone else was silent. Kazuto couldn't blame them. With Seiji's Demonic Commander, if they battle him recklessly, they could inadvertently make him even stronger.

_"But we need to know what this trump card is so we can have a better chance of beating him,"_ Kazuto thought to himself. "I…"

"I'll do it," Frank suddenly spoke up, having been silent during this whole meeting. "I'll fight Seiji."

All eyes faced the Blade Eater in surprise, especially Kuroba and Kazuto, albeit for somewhat different reasons.

"Are you sure, Frank?" the Black King questioned in concern.

Frank's arms were folded across his chest as he leaned into his chair. "Yeah," he said casually. "From what I heard from the kendo team, Seiji's had an interest in fighting me. Why not take advantage of it to learn some more information about him?"

Kuroba looked a little hesitant as she took her boyfriend's hand into her own. "Alright. But I'm going to be watching from the Gallery, just in case you might need me."

Frank simply gave his guardian a light smile.

"Brother, please be careful," Meg added. "Seiji's dangerous. Never lower your guard around him or else he'll steal one of your powers too. Just imagine how powerful he'll be if he steals Lunara and Solaris."

"That won't happen," Frank said firmly. "Lunara and Solaris are bound to me. There's no way either of them would allow someone like Seiji to wield them. Besides, he's not the only who's dangerous." The Blade Eater made a fist with his other hand, summoning a few purple sparks. "I am too."

**To be continued**

* * *

**I'll be honest, I didn't think I'd end the chapter like this, but it felt like a good stopping point. So Marth plans on fighting Seiji to gather more information about him. I wonder how it'll turn out.**

**P.S. I'm really looking forward to writing more interactions between Marth and Fuko/Sky Raker. I read her profile on the Accel World wiki and it says that she likes teasing her friends. I'm gonna have a lot of fun messing around with that. Well, her and another character who may or may not have interactions with Marth in the future.**


	26. Black vs Dusk

**April 19th, 2057**

Kazuto was leaning on the fence on the school rooftop. He seemed to be waiting for someone. He really should be at the school rally, but this was the only chance he had to talk to his best friend without the others around.

"Sorry I'm late," Frank said as he appeared and went over to his friend. "It was tricky giving my teacher the slip. What do you want to talk about?"

The Black Swordsman looked his partner in the eye and said, "You know what it is. Are you sure you're okay with fighting Seiji? If you're not careful, he could steal Sky Raker's Enhanced Armament from you."

Frank put his hands in the pockets of his pants and eyed the floor. "I know, but this might be the only way to find out what Seiji's fully capable of." He then lifted his gaze to his male Driver. "Don't worry, Kazuto. I've got no intention of letting Seiji steal Gale Thruster from me. If I didn't, it would be like stabbing Sky Raker in the back after she went out of her way to help us."

Kazuto could tell that the Blade Eater would not back down with challenging Seiji, so he let out a reluctant sigh. "Alright, just be careful okay."

Frank cracked a light smirk. "Don't worry. I'll be fine," he said casually. "Besides, all I'm gonna do is prolong the duel to get a sense of Seiji's powers. Once that's done, he's all yours."

This time Kazuto was smirking as he smacked his right fist into his other palm. "I like the sound of that. Speaking of which, I think I'm getting close to remembering that spell I need to take back Sugu's wings. After I get her wings back, I won't have any reason to hold back against Seiji."

"Yeah," Frank agreed. "Now let's find a way to break through that protection he has so we can challenge him."

"Took the words right out of my mouth."

* * *

**Later**

Kazuto, Frank and Kuroba were walking to the kendo dojo as the kendo team was in the middle of practice. The Darkness Duo had spent the majority of their remaining class time to create a backdoor program to circumvent whatever Seiji was using to keep his avatar's name from the matching list. However, even then they still needed to use Brain Burst in order to put the finishing touches on the program. Thankfully Kuroba had given the duo her blessing to use Brain Burst because of the circumstances.

"So how are you going to install the backdoor program onto Seiji's Neurolinker?" Kuroba questioned.

"With some difficulty," Kazuto explained. "The fastest way to put the program on Seiji's Neurolinker is through cable link, but there's no way he'll agree to that. But, we might have found a way to access his Neurolinker remotely. During school hours and clubs, all students are required to be connected to Umesato's local network via their Neurolinkers. Naturally both the school's network and our Neurolinkers have firewalls for viruses and malware, but if you're skilled enough at programming, you can circumvent both."

"Right now, the only connection we have to Seiji's Neurolinker is the school's local network," Frank took over. "Unfortunately, because Kazuto and I threatened him, Seiji's always on guard and probably added some extra firewall protection to his Neurolinker. However, if we manage to distract him for a period of time, Kazuto can break through Seiji's defenses to install the backdoor program."

Kuroba gripped her left arm with her other hand. "Now I'm really glad we aren't enemies," she said in a serious tone. "If you two were in a different Legion, you might have found a way to find me before I revealed myself to the Accelerated World."

Kazuto simply chuckled. "I think you're giving us too much credit, Kuroba. It would be _way harder_ to locate you than installing the backdoor program on Seiji's Neurolinker. We'd have to know what you looked like in real life and name, plus which school you attended to find you. The only way we can possibly find out your real name and appearance would be questioning the original members of Nega Nebulus and I highly doubt any of them would've sold you out."

The Black King relaxed before cracking a light smile. "I see," she replied. "So how do you two plan on distracting Seiji?"

Frank tossed his girlfriend a confident smirk. "Isn't it obvious? I'm going to challenge him to a kendo match."

Kuroba's eyes widened in disbelief. "But how? You're not part of the kendo team anymore, plus you're completely blacklisted from sports because of your abilities."

"True, but today just so happens to be quite unique. Once a semester, the kendo coaches allow other students to challenge any member of the kendo team to a match, as long as the member agrees to it. And something tells me Seiji won't turn this opportunity down."

"I see," Kuroba mused. "Good luck to both of you then."

The male duo told their Legion Master their thanks before the three of them continued to the dojo. When they arrived, they saw a number of students were watching some of the kendo team wrapping up their practice matches. Kazuto could also spot Meg in the crowd.

_"Of course, she'd be here,"_ he thought to himself. _"Meg must have figured out that Frank would challenge Seiji to a kendo match before the duel."_

Kazuto's thoughts were soon interrupted as the kendo teacher stepped up and said, "We will now begin the student request duels. Who would like to go first?"

"I would," Frank spoke up immediately as he took a step forward, catching almost everyone off-guard, including the teacher.

"It's the freak," one student whispered. "What's he doing here?"

The teacher looked very reluctant as he stared at the Blade Eater. "Frank Storm, as I recall, you are banned from participating in any official sporting events because of your…unnatural abilities."

"Hmph," Frank scoffed before confidently saying, "Except last I checked, this isn't an official sporting event. This is just a casual event for students to have fun." His eyes became deadly serious, causing the teacher to flinch. "Besides, I _am_ still a student here at Umesato, so I have the same right to join like everyone else."

The teacher was silent for a few moments before sighing in defeat. "Very well," he said slowly. "I'll allow it. Now choose your opponent."

Frank instantly turned his gaze to a certain freshman. "Seiji Nomi," he said firmly.

Kazuto heard quite a few students muttering amongst themselves about the "prodigy" of the kendo team against the "Freak of Umesato High School". Some were even thinking that Seiji had this match in the bag.

_"They wish,"_ Kazuto pondered. _"Frank's the one who will win."_

The teacher asked Seiji if he accepted the challenge, which the student replied that he will. Frank then went over and grabbed one shinai from one of the racks before joining his opponent in the kendo ring.

"Not gonna wear any protection?" Seiji goaded as he got in a traditional kendo stance. "That's pretty risky."

"I don't need it," the Blade Eater replied firmly.

Frank moved his feet apart while holding his shinai out to his side and kept his left hand close to his chest. His stance looked pretty strange to most people, but Kazuto and the other members of Nega Nebulus knew that this was one of the Dark Swordsman's main fighting stances.

Kazuto figured that Seiji will first attempt to strike Frank's head, especially since the latter wasn't wearing a helmet. However, because Seiji also knew about the Physical Burst command, which could allow the Dusk Taker player to change attack patterns mid-swing, means that it will be difficult to come up with ways to counter his attacks. The Physical Burst command was what allowed him to defeat all of the more experienced kendo members, including Suguha.

_"However,"_ Kazuto thought as he readied his virtual keyboard via his Neurolinker. _"Frank isn't an ordinary opponent. This will be an interesting match."_

The teacher soon gave the go-ahead to start. Seiji moved first and began swinging his shinai down at Frank's head. Meg, who was watching from the crowd with bated breath, could see the confident smirk on Seiji's face. Frank's face looked impassive and made no attempt to block, which made his sister nervous.

"Come on, Brother," she muttered to herself. "You've got to move."

Seiji's shinai immediately changed directions and began heading towards Frank's left side. It was a feint! Seiji's attack was too close to the Blade Eater's body and his shinai was too far away to block. It looked to everyone that the first point would go to the brown-haired freshman.

Suddenly a loud clang echoed in the air and everyone who was watching found themselves in shock. With inhuman reflexes, Frank had managed to block Seiji's attack with his shinai, then repel him back a few feet. Seiji was also shocked, but he quickly collected himself.

"How did you…?" Seiji questioned. He quickly stopped himself to block a diagonal slash from the Blade Eater, which was difficult since the attack was very fast and strong. It took everything he had to not get thrown out of the ring.

"You know how I blocked you," Frank said coldly. "It was your mistake for agreeing to this match. Let's see just how your 'skills' compare against me."

Seiji gritted his teeth and immediately moved to the right to get away, only for him to feel a strike in his left shoulder.

"First point to Storm!" the teacher declared.

Most of the students were still frozen with shock, but Meg looked very relieved.

"Thank goodness," the younger Storm-Furuta sibling muttered after releasing the breath she had been holding. "Looks like Frank will be okay."

"Looks that way," Kuroba said as she approached the brunette. The two girls proceeded to watch Frank and Seiji begin rapidly clashing their shinais together. "Marth's not gonna let someone like Seiji beat him. Even in his civilian form, his strength and speed are greater than an average teenager. Just imagine if he combined Brain Burst's acceleration with his SAO form."

Meg let out a chuckle as her brother scored yet another point without getting hit. "He'd be unstoppable if that happened." She then turned over to Kazuto, who was hard at work with installing his program onto Seiji's Neurolinker. "I hope this works. Sugu's been really depressed ever since Seiji stole her wings."

Kuroba draped her arm over Emerald Fencer's shoulders to comfort her. "Don't worry," the Black King said soothingly. "Frank and Kazuto won't let us down."

Meg simply smiled. "Yeah, you're right, Kuroba. Nothing can stop the Darkness Duo."

Frank had gotten Seiji into a stalemate, their shinais locked as they tried to overpower each other. Unbeknownst to the Dusk Taker player, the Blade Eater was actually holding back when it came to physical strength. Seiji, on the other hand, had beads of sweat trailing down his face even though he'd been using the Physical Burst command during the entire match.

Soon Frank got a message from Kazuto saying that he was finished. Seeing that there was no reason to continue this match, the Black Wolf player quickly repelled Seiji's shinai before striking his opponent in the right shoulder, making him the winner.

"Good match, for a cheater," Frank said quietly.

Seiji could only clench his jaws in frustration. "Not like you're any better, Aegis," he bitterly retorted. "That enhanced speed of yours is very unfair. No wonder you were banned from sports."

The Blade Eater simply scoffed before handing his shinai to the kendo teacher. He then went over to his friends, who were standing outside of the dojo.

"Nice match, Frank," Kazuto praised. "You really put Seiji in his place."

"It was nothing," Frank replied casually. "Now it's time to continue this in the Accelerated World."

"Be careful, Brother," Meg said in worry. "Seiji's no pushover."

The Black Wolf player gave his sister a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, sis. I'll be just fine." He then turned to the Dusk Taker player, who was sitting by his kendo teammates, perfectly oblivious to what's about to happen. "Burst Link!"

Kazuto found himself enveloped with light as he transformed into his graphite Duel Avatar. But he wasn't the person being challenged to a duel. He had registered himself to watch any matches that Frank was participating in, so he had been automatically accelerated and invited to a stage as part of the Gallery.

By his side, Graphite could see Kuroba, Meg, and Suguha, all of whom were in their Duel Avatars, beside him. About ten feet in front of him was Marth as Black Wolf.

The school had transformed into something organic, shining with a slimy metallic luster. The windows were all replaced with convex, glass-like black eyes, and innumerable protrusions resembling fins or gill-like pleats lined the walls. The sky was colored an abnormal green and the ground was covered in pipes like blood vessels or wriggling metallic tentacles.

"The Hell stage," Black Lotus spoke up. "How fitting for who our enemy is."

Graphite could only nod as tiny metal insects skittered around his feet. Soon Dusk Taker burst out of one of the eyeball windows, causing buckets of viscous fluid to ooze out of the hole, and landed right in front of his opponent.

"Huh. And here I thought you were the cautious one, Marth," the blackish-purple avatar remarked in his clear boy's voice. "So tell me, how did you manage to challenge me to a duel?"

"Since we don't know how you're hiding yourself from the matching list, Kirito and I uploaded a backdoor program into your Neurolinker that allows us to challenge you directly to circumvent it," Black Wolf explained. "But good luck trying to find it. We made it nearly impossible to detect, even with the best anti-virus programs. Now there's nothing stopping us from battling you."

Black Wolf drew his swords and took a confident step forward. "Seiji Nomi. You are a disgrace to all Burst Linkers. Not only do you use your acceleration powers to cheat in sports and tests, you also extort points from other Burst Linkers by blackmailing them. That ends now."

Dusk Taker's shoulders shook as he burst out laughing. "You make that sound like a bad thing," he said with remarkable self-control. "If anything, _I'm_ one of the few who actually takes full advantage of Brain Burst's abilities. Most players only use their Burst points for duels. But if that's all you're going to do, why do you even need Brain Burst? There's plenty of other more brutal, violent, and more importantly, pain-free games out there. Admit it, Marth. Deep down, you also think that you're part of a privileged class." He then sneered. "Actually, you're already different from everyone else, even among other Burst Linkers. You're not even human. You cause destruction everywhere you go, so what makes you different from the monsters you fought thirty years ago."

Graphite saw his male partner tighten his grip on his swords. "Marth," he said in concern.

Black Wolf let out a deep breath before looking his opponent in the eye. "You're right, Seiji," he said slowly. "There's not much of a difference between me and the monsters I had fought in the Demon War. However," he cracked a smirk, "unlike them, I never took pleasure from the damage I inflicted. I may not be a human anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't have any humanity in me."

"Tch," Dusk Taker grunted before saying, "Whatever. As for me, I like taking things and I can't stand losing things or having things taken from me. Right now, you're trying to take a maximum of one point eight seconds of my time. Time that I can be using to wipe the floor with my fellow kendo teammates. It's absolutely unforgivable. Naturally, you'll need to compensate me for it. With your Burst Points, and those swords of yours. With them, I'll be unstoppable!"

Suddenly Black Wolf and Graphite Edge burst out laughing while the girl avatars simply chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"You, of course," Emerald Fencer said firmly. "Lunara and Solaris are bound to my brother. They won't let a creep like you even touch them."

"She's right," Black Wolf added. He moved his black sword to his side and held his gold sword in front. "Of course…you're more than welcome to try. However, you'll most likely lose a limb or two in the process."

"Uh, Kuroba, I think part of your personality has rubbed off on Marth," Graphite Edge whispered to his other partner, as he remembered her saying a similar line to the Yellow Legion.

Lotus simply smirked. "Really? What would ever give you that impression?" she said smugly.

Graphite sighed in response before he and the others turned to watch the fight.

The first to move was Wolf, as he ran at the blackish-purple avatar at high-speed. He slashed his left sword at Dusk's shoulder, which the latter blocked with his bolt cutter arm, sparks dancing in the air, however he let out a grunt in pain as Solaris bit into his arm. Dusk Taker then tried to wrap the tentacles of his left arm around the black avatar, only for Wolf to sever them off with Lunara.

The black blade gained a blue light effect before Black Wolf unleashed the four-hit sword skill, Vertical Square, landing all four slashes on Seiji's chest, reducing his HP by 10 percent.

Dusk Taker was knocked back a few feet but quickly caught himself as his three tentacles regrew. Suddenly his tentacles grabbed something from the ground and flung it straight at Wolf. Metal insects, one of the Hell stage's many terrain effects, shot through the air, thin legs kicking frantically. While they were harmless, and pretty creepy, but the ones in the flashy shells released different kinds of poison when crushed.

The three that Dusk had thrown were all vivid red or green. He had to have fairly good eyesight to be able to grab hold of only the poisonous bugs, especially since he hadn't taken his eyes away from Black Wolf closing the distance between them.

"Seiji seems quite used to fighting," Black Lotus commented.

Verdant Fairy nodded in agreement. "Yeah. And so far he hasn't used anything different than when he fought me. Just what is he hiding up his sleeve?"

Before Graphite could even think of a response as Black Wolf instinctively slashed at the metal insects out of the air. Together with a squelching crack, like an egg being broken, insect carapaces shattered, and an even more loathsome-looking sludge flew out. Wolf's body was showered in the splatter, and white plumes of smoke rose up immediately after.

"Ngh!" The black avatar's HP bar only dropped by a small amount, but he reeled at the unanticipated attack.

Not letting the brief opening pass him by, Dusk Taker plunged forward like a bolt of black lightning, howling, and in the blink of an eye, his extended tentacles around Black Wolf's arms. Then he thrusted his bolt cutters towards Wolf's throat.

However, Wolf managed to move his right arm enough to catch the cutter blades with Lunara before the cutters were near his head. The next few moments were him and Dusk struggling to overpower each other.

"Tell me, Marth, how's it feel to meet your match?" Dusk Taker asked smugly.

Purple sparks began shooting off of Wolf's body, catching Dusk by surprise. "You're not my equal," he said coldly. "Not even close. Bolt Strike!"

The sparks became an aura of purple lightning which traveled to Dusk Taker's body by his tentacles and Solaris like conductors. He then cried out in pain as he was electrocuted, his HP slowly draining away. The tentacles quickly retracted from Wolf's arm while Seiji backed away in retreat.

Black Wolf's electric aura faded away before he pulled Lunara back, activating Vorpal Strike. He let out a howl as he thrusted the black sword forward, stabbing his opponent right in the chest, smashing Dusk Taker into the school building, ending up half buried in the metal wall.

"Aaah!"

The black avatar morphed into his wolf form and charged at the fallen avatar. He tackled his opponent, smashing through the weakened wall and landed right on top of his opponent. The black wolf then grabbed Dusk Taker's tentacles with his jaws and began dragging him deeper into the building. Graphite and the others ran after them, entering the school through the hole Wolf made.

"Wow, Marth's not holding back at all," Emerald Fencer said as they hurried through the darkened hallways.

"Of course, he wouldn't," Black Lotus replied. "He's trying to force Seiji into using his trump card. Marth can't do that without pulling any punches."

_"If Seiji does reveal his trump card, would Marth be forced to use the Incarnate System?"_ Graphite Edge wondered to himself. _"Come to think of it, what_ is _Seiji's trump card? Is it a special move, an Enhanced Armament, or is it something else?"_

Graphite suddenly found himself feeling a sense of dread, like this fight was about to get a lot worse. They soon caught up to the two combatants as Wolf flung Dusk into the wall, the latter wheezing in pain from the impact. Black Wolf's HP bar was over 80 percent while Dusk Taker's was down to 50 percent. The hall they were in also had no other passageways, meaning the blackish-purple avatar was now trapped.

"It's over, Seiji," Black Wolf declared as he changed back into his human form. "You just lost."

"What?" Dusk Taker questioned as he slowly picked himself up. "Have I?"

"You have. You can't destroy the walls of the Hell stage with your power. The exit is right behind me. And in a small space like this, a speed type like you is powerless."

It did seem like Wolf was right, however, Graphite knew that his partner was also a speed type as well, so a confined space like this was just as much of a hinderance to him as well, but Wolf also had high attack power and defense abilities so it shouldn't be that big a deal. Plus, his special-attack gauge was almost fully charged.

Dusk's narrowed reddish-purple eyes glittered, and the slim avatar lunged forward with no warning. He grabbed onto a wall pillar with the tentacles of his left hand and contracting them before flinging his body forward. Unwilling to admit defeat, he was now trying to go around Black Wolf and escape.

However, Wolf had other ideas, his special-attack gauge went down by 40 percent. "Stormveil!" Black wind surrounded his swords before he swung them to his sides, creating a wind barrier right behind him. His hair and tail ends of his outfit flapped in the strong gale.

"Gah!" Dusk Taker cried out as he slammed into the barrier and was knocked right back to where he started.

Having fulfilled its purpose, the black wind barrier dissipated soon after.

"It's hopeless," Black Wolf said firmly. "You're not getting past me. Surrender now and return Verdant Fairy's wings to her. If you do that, we might be merciful to you."

Graphite Edge really had to hand it to the Blade Eater. Wolf really knew how to pressure someone like Seiji into doing what he wanted. Graphite knew that Seiji would never give up, his arrogance just wouldn't allow it.

"Be careful, Marth," he muttered under his breath. "Something tells me Seiji's about to step up his game."

Dusk Taker let out a long sigh. "Marth," he said, shaking his head from side to side. "You'll do whatever it takes to keep your ridiculous promises to your friends, won't you? It's really pathetic…"

He then spread his hands almost exasperatedly and murmured a short, unfamiliar command: "Total Disarmament."

Instantly, the tentacles of his left hand and the bolt cutter of his right disappeared, as if melting into thin air. The arming and disarming of Enhanced Armament could be done through a voice command the player registered in advance on the Install menu. Those two words must have been the command Seiji had chosen.

"Is he actually giving up or something?" Emerald Fencer questioned.

"No, I'm not," Dusk Taker said quietly as he dropped his small, empty-handed into a very low stance. "I just need my hands empty to use my trump card."

Graphite Edge let out a gasp. "Trump…card?"

"Watch out, Marth!" Verdant Fairy shouted.

Black Wolf didn't respond. Instead he closed his eyes and brought his swords close to his chest in an x-form.

"Goodness me," Dusk Taker said even quieter, his voice completely devoid of emotion. "I don't like this at all. I really hate saying the name of my special attack…But, well, given the situation, I suppose I have no choice."

Dusk Taker used both hands to make a small triangle in front of his body. He then began muttering under his breath words that sounded like a spell, or maybe it would be more accurate to call it a curse.

"Steal. Get. Grab. Remove. Take. Take. Take. Ta. Ke."

Soon the Black Legion members began hearing the low whir of vibration, which soon turned into a metallic, high-pitched hum. Graphite let out a gasp as he saw Seiji's hands being enveloped by a dull, midnight-purple pulse of energy.

The air in the hallway shuddered, and sparks snapped and raced everywhere. If this special attack was generating these kinds of effects, then Dusk Taker's special-attack gauge should begin to drop before the attack begins. However, the blackish-purple avatar's gauge didn't even go down a little. Instead it stayed at its half-charged state.

Black Lotus suddenly gasped in realization. "It can't be," she said in disbelief. "He couldn't possibly know about _that_ system."

Graphite Edge's eyes widened as he realized what his other partner was referring to. He had actually come to the same conclusion. Dusk Taker had to be using the Incarnate System, overwriting reality with his imagination.

"Hurry, Marth!" he shouted quickly, catching Lotus's attention. "Take him down now! Don't let him use that!"

But Black Wolf wasn't moving at all. His breathing was steady, and his body language looked calm. In fact, Graphite could barely see a black aura surround the Blade Eater and his hair and tail ends of his armored longcoat whipping around in the nonexistent breeze.

_"No way,"_ Graphite Edge thought. _"Is Marth planning on using the Incarnate System too?"_

Dusk Taker lifted his face slightly and looked up at the motionless Black Wolf. This looked like a moment where he would sneer and say something contemptuous with a disparaging laugh.

But Dusk Taker stayed silent as he bent the fingers of both his hands into claws and kicked at the ground. He generated an even stronger purple aura, this time of ripples, before launching himself into a dash that was so fast, his legs were blurs. In less time than it took to blink, Dusk closed the ten-meter distance between him and Wolf, and as he closed in, he drew his hand through the air in a large arc, from bottom to top.

Finally, as the purple claw got ever closer, Wolf's eyes opened. They were no longer blue and were now a bright yellow. His left sword flared with a very faint red light, which was actually increasing in brightness by the second, before crying out, "Sharp Nail!"

The first slash rose from the lower right, striking the purple claw and slowing it down. The second swipe from left to right dug right into the claw before the third slice from the upper right stopped it in its tracks. Both the claw and Solaris screeched in protest as they were locked in a stalemate.

Dusk Taker tried to retaliate with his other claw, but Black Wolf somehow blocked it with Lunara, which should have been impossible since Sharp Nail was still in effect.

Everyone else was rendered speechless, especially Seiji.

"Impossible," he said, his voice full of shock. "No one should be able to block this attack. Your swords should have been deleted from the duel the moment they came in contact."

So it is an Incarnate attack. The images Seiji produced were supposed to negotiate with the system and make any object he grabbed with his hands to disappear. However, something was keeping the twin blades from vanishing.

Black Wolf simply smirked as the black aura around him intensified. "I guess my willpower is stronger than yours."

Suddenly his armor morphed into a dark leather long coat and slim-fitting pants. His visor disappeared and his bangs became slightly longer while his gauntlets changed into black fingerless gloves.

"No way," Seiji said with a gasp. "You know about the Incarnate System too?!"

"You got that right," Marth confirmed as he began to slowly push back against the void-like claws. "Took me about a day in the Accelerated World to get this far with the system. Worth every second to see the shocked look on your face."

Marth let out a bellow as he summoned all his strength and pushed the purple claws away. Dusk Taker was also knocked back a little. Seiji let out a frustrated grunt before he ran at the Dark Swordsman so quick it looked like short teleportation. He slid to the right and nimbly dodged a horizontal slash from Lunara, but Marth took advantage of his motion to spin around, striking the blackish-purple avatar across the chest with Solaris, cutting through the armor like butter.

"Gah!" Dusk Taker cried out in pain as he took a few steps backward before catching himself.

"This can't be happening," he said to himself. "How can I be losing to a weakling like you? I thought this attack would give me the edge over you, but you just countered with your own Incarnate attack. Only the seven kings, their close associates, and _my group_ should know about it." His gaze turned to Black Lotus. "Did _she_ teach you how to use Incarnation just to beat me?"

"No," Marth said casually before unleashing Stormveil once more, this time around him and Seiji to keep the latter from escaping. "I didn't learn about the Incarnate System from Lotus. That honor goes to someone else. And what I just did wasn't an Incarnate attack." He lifted Lunara to the level of his shoulder and pulled it back. "This…is an Incarnate attack!"

Suddenly the Shadow Blade began glowing a bloodred, it was the one-hit Vorpal Strike. Lunara started to unleash a metallic roar as Marth became surrounded by a crimson light like a flame while the hem and tail ends of his coat flapped behind him like wings.

_"Seiji's ten feet away,"_ Marth thought to himself. _"That distance is child's play compared to what I pulled off back at Sky Raker's house."_

"Raaahh!" he bellowed fiercely.

Dusk Taker took a step back in fear and realized that the wind barrier around him and his opponent was very narrow, meaning it was practically impossible to evade this attack.

Marth then lunged his black sword forward, the crimson light shooting towards the blackish-purple avatar, striking him in the chest before he could even blink. The light actually pierced the wind barrier and the metal wall behind Dusk Taker before finally disappearing. The wind barrier also dissipated soon after.

"Aaaah!" Dusk Taker cried out in pain as a hole was made in his left breast from the attack. His Incarnate claws dissipated before he collapsed on his back. His HP bar was barely at 5 percent.

Seiji tried to pull himself up, but he soon found a black sword pointed at his throat. The Dark Swordsman was standing by his right side and his eyes were their usual blue again.

"Looks like I win," Marth declared as his friends hurried over to him.

Dusk Taker looked at the swordsman in desperation. He tried to lift his right arm to try and grab Marth's ankle, but he just couldn't find the strength. He just couldn't believe it. Did he really just lose, to a freak of all things? It can't be true. The organization he was a part of promised to make him unstoppable. He _should_ be unstoppable.

Suddenly Marth moved his sword away and reverted back to Black Wolf before turning away.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Dusk Taker asked in confusion.

"It's not my place to take you down," Black Wolf answered simply as he glanced at the downed avatar with narrowed eyes. "That right belongs to my best friend. He'll be your next opponent. And trust me, you won't like that fight one bit."

Graphite Edge smacked his right fist into his palm as he smirked. "Oh, but I think I'll enjoy every second of it. That's when I'll be taking back my sister's wings from you. Anyway, the timer's about to run out. I could challenge you immediately after, but where's the fun in that? I'll give you one day to prepare yourself for our duel. Hell, I'll even let you decide the meeting place. However," his eyes became cold as ice, sending a chill down Seiji's spine, "if you lead us into a trap, then you'll have to deal with the full might of Nega Nebulus, so I suggest you plan carefully for tomorrow."

Dusk Taker clenched his teeth before shouting, "You—"

But he was cut off as the duel timer reached zero, causing everyone to return to the real world.

* * *

Immediately afterward, Kazuto and Frank shared a high-five in victory.

"Nice going, Frank," Kazuto praised. "Now that we know what Seiji's trump card is, we can finally bring this to an end and Sugu will be able to fly again."

"Yes, this conflict is finally drawing to an end," Kuroba agreed before narrowing her eyes at her boyfriend. "However, just how did you manage to learn about the Incarnate System, Frank? I never even gave hints about its existence."

"Incarnate System?" Meg questioned.

Frank, however, simply smirked and tossed his female Driver a wink. "Sorry, that's a secret," he said teasingly. "I might tell you tomorrow though."

"Are you seriously doing that again?!" Kuroba protested.

"I like to think of it as payback for you not telling me what Brain Burst really was the day you gave it to me," Frank said with a laugh.

The Black King growled in frustration before she replaced it with concern. "Just promise me you'll be careful with the Incarnate System. There's a reason why I never told you about it." Kuroba brought her hands to her chest. "The Incarnate System is dangerous. If you use it selfishly, it'll corrupt your soul and you'll end up like Seiji. How did _he_ manage to learn of its existence?"

Suddenly she felt two gentle hands touch her shoulders and looked up at a pair of kind blue eyes. "Don't worry about it," Frank said reassuringly. "I had a feeling you kept this a secret for a reason. Now I know why. I promise that I'll only use Incarnation when it's necessary." He then gave her a quick kiss on the lips before parting.

"Me too," Kazuto spoke up, causing Kuroba's eyes to widen again. "Yeah, I know how to use the Incarnate System too. Anyway, we should start preparing for our final battle with Seiji. Something tells me that he's gonna get some extra help in attempt to defeat us."

Kuroba quickly collected herself and nodded. "Yes, we should. We may know Seiji's trump card, but we also know that he does have allies. And if my assumption is correct, his allies would be that organization that Sulfur Pot is part of. We'll need to take extra precautions since we don't know anything about what this organization is capable of."

"Then let's meet with the others and come up with a plan," Frank suggested.

"Great," Kazuto agreed. "Let's do it at Dicey's. That way we won't have to worry about being overheard."

The trio then began walking away before a confused Meg followed after them.

"Can someone please tell me what this Incarnate System is?!" she nearly shouted.

**To be continued**

* * *

**And so the final battle with Seiji draws near. I actually had quite a bit of trouble finding a way to adapt this arc because Marth is very different from Haruyuki. So far I think I'm doing a good job. Anyway, next chapter might be the final chapter of the Seiji arc. After that, updates might be slow since I need to get more of the Accel World light novels so I can read the other arcs. However, I probably won't adapt the entire Accel World story, and instead I might branch off at a certain point to tell my own story. Anyway, see you guys next time!**


	27. Seiji's Secret

**April 19th, 2057**

By the time Kazuto, Frank, Kuroba, and Meg arrived at Dicey's, the other Nega Nebulus members (except Suguha) were already gathered around a table in the middle of the café. Andrew had even put a sign on the front door saying that the place was closed for a private party.

"Wow," Frank said, impressed as they all took their seats. "And here I thought we'd be the first ones here."

"Asuna and I were already in the area," Shino replied while adjusting her fake glasses. "She's been trying to track down Lisbeth over the last few weeks and we heard a rumor that someone matching Lisbeth's description was recently spotted around here. But we looked everywhere and couldn't find a trace of her."

Just hearing the name of the mace-wielder made Kazuto clench his jaws in frustration. He was still angry that Lisbeth would accuse Frank over her best friend and blacksmith partner Celina, whose real name was Victoria Blackburn. Naturally, it could just be that Lisbeth had simply chosen Frank as a target to release her anger and grief upon, but it was because of her that the Dark Swordsman ended up in this era in the first place.

Most of the Black Swordsman memories have returned to him over the last few months, but he still couldn't remember how he and the other Alfheim Warriors were able to follow Frank into the future, or if there was even a way to go back to their time. It's not that Kazuto hated living here, far from it, he was amazed to see how far technology has advanced over the course of thirty years.

The issue is…ever since he was founded by his foster parents eleven years ago, Kazuto has had a strange feeling that he doesn't belong here. It confused him at first and passed it off as an orphan struggling to adjust to his new family. However, after his memories started to return and consulting his former guildmates, who also had that same sensation, he began to wonder if it was because he didn't belong in _this era_.

Come to think of it, if this was the future, how come he hasn't run into any older versions of himself and his friends? His amnesia would've gotten in the way before but now that it was almost completely gone, he still hasn't seen a single trace of an adult Kazuto or any version future versions of his friends. Heck, he hasn't even been able to find Yui, his and Asuna's AI daughter, anywhere on the web.

Kazuto had tried to go to his old house in the suburbs because that was where he and Frank had kept all the backup copies of Yui's program, but for some reason he could never find it. It was as if some outside force was preventing him from locating his daughter. It frustrated him to no end, and it was heartbreaking to tell Asuna the news. The Argent Flash ended up bursting into tears while in her boyfriend's embrace.

Luckily, or unluckily depending on your viewpoint, Frank had confirmed that he could still connect with his Artifice, Siren, which was currently in orbit right above Japan. It has somehow managed to remain hidden from satellites even after thirty years, but if it was discovered, there wasn't anything humans could do about it. Apparently Frank's Siren has its own attack instinct, meaning it could analyze things in its vicinity and make its own judgement on whether to engage or not, so if humans tried to attack it, Siren would naturally defend itself even without the orders of its master. Obviously though, Frank's orders would be the Artifice's top priority.

However, Frank has always been very reluctant when it came to using Siren. It was arguably his most powerful weapon, but it was also his most destructive one. The Artifice nearly reduced Tokyo to rubble during the Demon War, granted Frank wasn't in full control of himself when it happened, but it still horrified the Blade Eater afterward. Since then, Frank had sworn to never use Siren again, but that decision probably almost cost him and Kazuto their lives back in Okinawa.

Had Kuroba not arrived when she did, the Darkness Duo would most likely be dead. However, Kazuto wondered if Siren would have been able to destroy the barrier that had trapped them in the Shadow Ruins with its particle cannon and kill Gandora. Even if the Artifice was in space, its particle lasers could easily reach the ground within seconds if the order to fire was given.

But Kazuto knew his best friend too well. Even if Siren could destroy the barrier and kill Gandora, Frank would never order it to do so. Not only did the Dark Swordsman not want to risk losing control of himself again, but also because he didn't want to risk hurting Kazuto. It would probably take a miracle to make Frank use his Artifice again.

"I see," Kazuto said slowly, his tone having no emotion in it.

Asuna let out a sigh. She probably figured that her boyfriend still hadn't forgiven Lisbeth. "I get that you're still angry at Liz for what she said to Marth, Kirito, but I'm worried about her," she replied. "There's no records of her after the Demon War. It's like she disappeared. Regardless of what she did, Liz is still our guildmate. Shouldn't we make sure she's alright?"

Kazuto let out a groan as he leaned back in his chair. "You're right. I guess we should try to find Liz, but that's gonna have to wait until after we deal with Seiji."

The Lightning Flash gave her boyfriend a warm smile and said, "Thanks, Kirito."

Meg then cleared her throat. "Speaking of Seiji," the Emerald Fencer spoke up as she tossed a glance at her brother, "What exactly is this Incarnate System? How do you use it?"

Klein raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Incarnate System? What the hell is that?"

"I've never heard of it either," Shino added. "What does this have to do with Seiji?"

The Darkness Duo turned their gaze to the Black King. While either of them could explain what the Incarnate System is to the others, it would be better if it was from someone who had more knowledge of it. Kuroba must have realized this as she nodded her head.

"The Incarnate System is a hidden feature of Brain Burst," the female Driver explained. "It allows a Burst Linker to turn a mental image into an attack, or in Frank and Kazuto's case, change into their SAO personas within the game. Seiji has somehow managed to learn about this system and how to use it. That's his trump card."

The other Nega Nebulus members, except Kazuto and Frank, were shocked at what they heard.

"Are you serious, Kuroba?" Ayano questioned, her eyes full of disbelief. "This doesn't sound possible."

Kuroba didn't scold the youngest member, it was only natural for the others to be skeptical about this.

"I understand your suspicions, Ayano," the Black King replied. "Even I was suspicious of the Incarnate System's existence when I first heard about it. But it is very real. In fact, Meg, Asuna and Sinon have seen it being used before, with both experiences involving Marth."

Asuna let out a gasp in realization. "She's right. Sinon and I saw Marth change into his Dark Swordsman persona when he battled Chrome Disaster." She then remembered one other thing about the battle. "Um, Kuroba, does the Incarnate System also change a person's eye color?"

"Eye color?" Frank asked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

The leader of Nega Nebulus simply chuckled. "I knew you'd notice that little detail, Asuna," Kuroba said. "Yes, the Incarnate System can change a person's eye color, but only for a select few people. First, let me explain how the Incarnate System works. Basically, you use your willpower or imagination to overwrite the reality of Brain Burst and turn it into an attack. As for the eye color," she tossed a glance at her two partners, "it's a sign of an intense usage of the Incarnate System. For Marth and Kirito, it temporarily turns their eyes yellow."

Kazuto found himself at a loss for words, as was Frank. He had no idea that his eye color would change because of the Incarnate System. Then again, he couldn't have known unless someone had pointed it out to him or looked at himself in a mirror.

"Does it change your eye color too, Kuroba?" Andrew questioned.

Kuroba cracked a smirk and said, "Sorry, but that's a secret. Although, there's something else I need to mention. Frank, Kazuto, you need to swear that you'll never use an Incarnate attack unless you're attacked with an Incarnate attack. Swear on your pride as a Burst Linker."

"Uh, why should we?" Kazuto said skeptically. "Is it because it's cowardly?"

"No. It's because in Brain Burst, the real enemy is yourself. Ultimately, Incarnation exists not for defeating enemies but for confronting your own weakness. If you use the Incarnate System for personal gain, it'll corrupt your soul, no exceptions."

Frank let out a sigh as he looked up at the ceiling. "Now I know why you didn't tell me about Incarnation." He let out a chuckle. "You don't have to worry. I promise to only use my Incarnate attacks when it's necessary."

"Me too," Kazuto added. "We kind of have to anyway since using Incarnation seems to turn us into our SAO forms. If we used it in a regular duel, we'd end up revealing our true identities."

"Good," Kuroba replied.

"By the way, those Overdrive abilities of yours, are they created through the Incarnate System too?"

"No, Overdrive is similar to Incarnation but it's not the same. It's more like a positive autosuggestion that allows black avatars to adopt the properties of different colors. However, what colors you are able to use depends on the limits of your Duel Avatar. Me, for example, I only have three color modes, Red, Blue, and Green."

"I see," Kazuto said with interest. "Is there anything else we need to know?"

The Black King nodded her head. "Yes. Because of these restrictions, you might think that the Incarnate System must be incredibly powerful and if you master it, you'll be able to do anything. But that's a mistake."

Everyone else looked surprised.

"Really?" Frank asked. "Why is that?"

"The Incarnate System is just another logic executed in the Brain Burst program," Kuroba explained. "The main idea of it is the 'overwrite'. Which is something the player does with image power. To put it in another way, powerful thought causes the system—the god of this world—to mistake it for fact. But to make something like that happen, you need an image that's so strong that it tricks _you_ before it tricks the system. An image that goes way past the level of imagination and all the way to conviction."

"I don't think Marth and Kirito have to worry about that," Asuna voiced. "They've been the Darkness Duo for years and have fought countless battles for survival. If that doesn't grant them conviction for mental images, I don't know what will."

"I agree. It takes an overwhelming amount of time to build up the experience for that conviction. Desires also play a part in Incarnation, and is usually sourced from a missing necessity. If you don't have either of these, your mental image will not become real."

Klein leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "Geez, this Incarnate System sure is complicated. I don't think I have the criteria to use it either."

"That's understandable," Kuroba replied. "Anyway, let's discuss what we'll do about Seiji. Kazuto, have you remembered the spell to retake Emerald Fairy's wings?"

The Black Swordsman nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. I was thinking it over last night and I finally remembered how to use it. The timing and execution are a little tricky, but I think I can pull it off."

"Good. Naturally you'll be the one to fight Seiji next, but Frank and I should go too just in case he brings some allies."

"I'm fine with that," Frank added. "In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Seiji doesn't come alone. If he brings anyone, I'll make sure they don't interfere."

"Kuroba," Shino spoke up. "Would it be alright if the rest of us come too? If we're all there, it'll make it harder for Seiji to pull any tricks."

The veteran Burst Linker held her chin in her palm as she pondered the idea. "Yes, that should be fine," she said after a few moments. "Besides, it'll be easier to return Suguha's wings to her if she's there as well."

"Alright!" Klein said in excitement as he slammed a fist into his other palm. "I'm getting pumped up just thinking about this. Dusk Taker's about to meet his end!"

* * *

**Later- Late Afternoon**

Kazuto was standing outside of his apartment, thinking about his upcoming battle with the mysterious dusk avatar.

_"What is this group that Seiji is a part of?"_ he questioned to himself. _"Is it connected to Sulfur Pot's meddling in Okinawa and Arcanos?"_ He let out a groan. _"There's too many questions and not enough answers. Guess I'll just have to beat them out of Seiji."_

Suddenly a voice said, "Hello, Kazuto. It's been a while."

The Graphite Edge player snapped out of his thoughts and in a panic, realized that Rias had approached him. She was in her business uniform, so she must have just gotten off from work.

"Uh, hey Miss Hagino," Kazuto said nervously. "Fancy seeing you here."

Rias simply chuckled in amusement. "Well, I do live here after all. Anyway, how have you been?"

"I'm…good," Kazuto said slowly, finding it difficult to come up with a response.

For some reason, Frank's foster mother always made Kazuto feel uneasy whenever he was around her. Sure, she was very kind and seemed to care deeply for her son, but Kazuto always felt that she was hiding something about herself. Unbeknownst to any of his friends, Kazuto had actually hacked into the government database to find out more about Rias Hagino and learned that the earliest records of her only dated back to after the Demon War ended. One of the only things he could find was that her original last name was Morningstar, a very unusual name especially in Japan, before she changed it for some unknown reason.

There were also no files of her coming to Japan from other countries either. That alone was suspicious. So where did Rias come from? That was a question that Kazuto desperately wanted to answer, not for his own curiosity, but for the safety of his best friend/partner. None of his friends would probably approve of his investigation, especially Frank, but he didn't care. He won't let anything threaten his friends.

The Black Swordsman had managed to come up with a theory about how Rias Morningstar ended up in Tokyo. She must have been one of the monsters that were summoned by Zarc during the Demon War and has lived in hiding for the last thirty years. But if that was the case, why would she take in Frank, who should be her greatest enemy? Rias had plenty of opportunities to kill the Blade Eater, yet she hasn't made a single move against him. In fact, she always seemed to put the safety of her adopted son above all else. But why?

"Mrs. Hagino, can I ask you something?" Kazuto spoke up.

"Sure. What is it?"

Kazuto had to pause for a moment to come up with the right words to say. "Why did you take Frank in ten years ago?" he asked. "Why not hand him over to the government? There are quite a few people who would love to get their hands on him and exploit his powers."

The red-haired woman didn't look mad at all, instead she let out a light chuckle. "I could never allow such selfish people to experiment on a child. Frank needed a family, not some laboratory," she answered sincerely. "Besides," Rias's mind briefly flashed to a memory where she cradled a gravely injured black-haired woman in her arms, "I made a promise to an old friend that I'd protect her son."

The Black Swordsman's eyes widened in confusion. "What? What friend?"

"Sorry," Rias said with a small smirk, "but that's all I'm gonna say for now. Maybe one day I'll tell you the full story."

She then walked off to her apartment, leaving Kazuto alone.

_"Well that didn't give me a lot of answers,"_ he thought to himself. _"Just who is Rias?"_

He entered his apartment before going into his room and crashing onto his bed. Kazuto pondered on what to do next. He had to tell Frank what he knew about Rias, but also knew the Blade Eater would most likely react negatively to this.

"Link Start," Kazuto said before diving into his personal virtual world that his foster parents had given him for his fourteenth birthday.

The virtual world was about fifty feet wide and was covered by a grassy field with a few trees scattered here and there. There were several small hills as well and the sky was a brilliant blue with multiple white clouds trailing about. It reminded him so much of the grassy plains of Aincrad where he and his partner would spend their free days napping.

Kirito then looked himself over and saw that he was in his Spriggan avatar, his dual swords strapped to his back. He opened his menu and sent a virtual call request to Frank. While they could talk in the real world via the same method, but Kirito wanted this to be private.

Soon the sounds of someone logging in filled the air and Marth appeared from a burst of blue light. He wasn't alone, however, as Kuroba in her customized avatar was right beside him.

"Kuroba?" Kirito said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

The Black King set the tip of her umbrella on the grass and held the handle with her gloved hands. "I was with Marth when you requested a virtual call as we arrived at his apartment," she answered. "I hope my presence won't be an inconvenience."

Kirito simply shook his head. "No, this is something you should know too." He turned his eyes to his best friend, who had his arms folded across his chest. "Marth, you might not like to hear this, but please listen to what I have to say."

Marth raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Well, that doesn't sound ominous," he said sarcastically. "What is it?"

The Black Swordsman hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry, but I did an investigation on your mother, Rias Hagino."

"What?!" Marth exclaimed in surprise. "Why would you do that?"

Guilt filled Kirito's eyes as he began explaining his reasoning and what he had found out. When he was done, both Marth and Kuroba were left silent.

"So Rias might be a monster, just like Arcanos and Zarc?" Marth finally said after several long minutes.

"It's possible," Kirito replied grimly. "I'm sorry, Marth, but your mother might not be who you think she is."

Marth didn't respond as he fought conflicting emotions that spiraled in his mind. Could it really be true? Could the woman who raised him and protected his secret really be an enemy?

"Even if she is a monster, then why hasn't she killed Marth yet?" Kuroba voiced. "She would have had plenty of opportunities to end his life, especially when he was a kid. There has to be more to this."

"I don't know," Kirito said slowly. "When I talked to her earlier, she mentioned something about protecting her friend's son, which I'm guessing is Marth. But I don't know who this friend is."

The Dark Swordsman let out a deep breath before saying, "It couldn't be my birth mother, Serena. She never mentioned someone like Rias to me nor have I seen her back when I lived in America." A thought suddenly came to mind. "Hold on, Blados mentioned that I'm the reincarnation of Zane, an ancient warrior from a forgotten era. Could Rias's friend be _Zane's_ mother?"

"That can't be true!" Kuroba refuted. "We don't know how long-ago Zane had lived, and even then, how could Rias still be alive after all that time?"

"Monsters don't follow the same rules as humans, Kuroba," Kirito spoke up. "They probably have very different life spans than we do, depending on their species. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them have found a way to live all the way to the present day. But I think Marth is right. Rias must have been friends with Zane's mother, but that raises the question. Why would Zane's mother be friends with a monster?"

Kuroba pursed her lips as she pondered the question in her head. "Maybe humans and monsters got along back then, but I doubt it since there aren't any historical records about Zane or his era." An eerie idea suddenly popped in her mind, frightening the female Driver. "Hold on, what if Zane's mother was a monster too?"

The boys gasped in realization.

"Yeah, I can see that," Kirito said inquisitively. "But that would mean that Zane was a monster too. So what does that say about Marth?"

The two Drivers turned to their other partner, who simply shrugged. "Don't look at me," Marth replied while raising his hands in defense. "I don't have any answers. Besides, my origins are complicated already. Let's not add this to the table until we get some actual proof. Also we don't even know what kind of monster Rias and, potentially, her friend are."

"Well there's only one way to find out," Kuroba said. "You're going to have to confront Rias."

Marth let out a groan in reluctance while glancing over his shoulder, away from his partners. Kirito didn't blame him for it. He wouldn't like the idea of asking the person who raised him if they were human or not.

"If you want to, Marth," the Black Swordsman offered, "you could ask her after we deal with Seiji."

The Blade Eater let out a sigh before returning his gaze to his male Driver. "Thanks, Kirito," he said with a light smile. "I think I'll do that."

Kuroba didn't voice any complaints, likely because her boyfriend was already in a difficult position and pressuring him would do more harm than good. Besides, Rias hasn't given them a reason to make learning her true identity a top priority. Right now, they need to focus stopping Seiji once and for all.

_"Just one more day,"_ Kirito thought to himself. _"One more day until I make Seiji pay for stealing Sugu's wings. Tomorrow he's gonna learn what happens when you threaten the wrong people."_

The trio then agreed on going to school together, mainly so they can discuss any potential strategies to use against Dusk Taker.

"Speaking of which," Marth spoke up. "That Incarnate attack of his… It was like a void trying to delete anything it touched. How do you plan to stop it, Kirito?"

The Black Swordsman simply smirked. "Oh I've got one idea, and it involves a certain Holy Sword."

Marth quickly caught on to what he was implying and cracked a mischievous smile. "So you're finally bringing out _that_ sword," he said eagerly. "Seiji is so screwed now."

Kuroba's eyes widened in disbelief as she caught on to what her partners were implying. "Holy Sword? You don't mean…"

Unfortunately, neither boy chose to answer her, instead saying that she'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out if her hunch is correct. Kirito then ended the virtual call so they could log out.

* * *

Kuroba found herself sitting beside her boyfriend on his bed. She felt a little awkward being this close to him, probably because they were now in a relationship. She had wanted this for months, ever since she confessed her feelings to Frank when Araya tried to ram them with a car, but now that it's finally happened, Kuroba keeps finding herself worrying that she'll screw up and ruin the bond she has with the boy she loves.

"You're not gonna screw up," Frank suddenly said, catching the female Burst Linker off-guard.

"How did you know?"

Frank gave her a warm smile as he reminisced his first relationship. "Yuuki was the same way," he explained. "Although, it's not like I was much better. We tended to go with the flow, figuring things out as we go. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience."

"I see," Kuroba said with interest. "Then I guess I've got a lot to live up to. But just to be clear, I don't want to be a replacement for Yuuki. I'm not her and she isn't me."

"Don't worry, I've never thought of you like that, Kuroba," Frank replied. "It would be disrespectful of me to think otherwise, to both you and Yuuki."

Kuroba smiled before leaning her head into his shoulder. "That's good to hear. I love you, Frank."

"I love you too, Kuroba."

Frank then got the feeling that someone was watching them and quickly scanned the room with a skeptical eye. He soon found that his bedroom door was partially open and saw a red-haired figure walking away. The figure didn't have a malicious presence and before it disappeared, Frank thought he saw the briefest glimpse of a loving smile.

* * *

Rias felt a little guilty spying on her son and his girlfriend, but she couldn't help it. They reminded her of Zane and Celine, which was no surprise since Frank and Kuroba are their reincarnations. Heck, Kazuto was the reincarnation of Zane's best friend, who was also named Kirito.

Come to think of it, Rias had noticed that Kazuto was being more observant on her recently. One would first think that the teen had a crush on her, but the red-haired demon lord knew better. Kazuto must be beginning to suspect that she isn't really human. However, Rias actually expected this. It would be foolish of her to think that her façade as a human would last forever, especially since she decided to be more proactive when it comes to the safety of her son.

_"It seems that I'll have to reveal my true identity soon,"_ the demon thought to herself. _"I don't know how Frank will react but even if he'll hate me for what I am, I'll still protect him. I owe it not only for Altena, but as a mother's duty to protect her child."_

* * *

**The Next Day- April 20th, 2057**

Kuroba woke up from a dreamless sleep and found herself alone on Frank's bed. She had chosen to spend the night at her protégé's apartment partially so she could walk to school with him and Kazuto, but largely just in case Rias was indeed an enemy and make an attempt on Frank's life.

The Black King rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before climbing out of the covers and the bed. She then found herself exploring Frank's room, seeing what all he had. He had a large selection of video games, both cartridge and disk. It was amusing that despite living in a digital age, the Dark Swordsman preferred having physical copies of his games.

On one of his bookshelves were a few figurines of video game characters. One was a blue-haired swordsman named Marth, who is viewed as the mascot of the Fire Emblem series and is the namesake of Frank's other persona. Another was none other than Princess Zelda in her A Link Between Worlds appearance. Apparently, Rias and Shiro had gotten them for Frank as welcoming gifts after they successfully adopted him.

On Frank's desk was not only a computer he had built himself, but a few pictures of him in his youth. Most of them contained him, Kazuto and Asuna playing with each other as children but there were two that had Frank with his foster mother. The first seemed to have been taken on a train with Frank leaning on his mother's arm, both of them smiling. The second was a twelve-year-old Frank and Rias sitting in the shade of a tree in a park. Frank was fast asleep and had his head resting on his mother's lap, who had such a gentle smile that Kuroba momentarily forgot that the red-head could potentially be a monster.

"That might be my favorite picture of all."

Kuroba let out a startled gasp before turning around to see none other than Rias looking over her shoulder. While she didn't have the Hypersense that Frank and Kazuto had developed, the Black King had some semblance of being able to sense when others draw near, but she hadn't detected Rias approaching at all. Kazuto's theory was looking more factual more than ever.

"I'm sorry," Rias said sincerely. "I didn't mean to scare you. You seemed so focused that I didn't want to disturb you."

The leader of Nega Nebulus took a deep breath to calm her nerves before saying, "It's fine. Just give me a little more of a warning next time. Anyway, where's Frank?"

"He's in the kitchen eating breakfast. I just came to return your school uniform after washing it. I've got no problem with you sleeping here, but you should at least bring a change of clothes with you."

Kuroba couldn't help but scratch her cheek sheepishly as she fought off a blush. "S-sorry. I'll be more considerate next time."

Rias cracked a light smile before holding out the Burst Linker's uniform. "That's all I ask." As Kuroba reached for her clothes, her bracelet caught Rias's attention. "That's an interesting charm. Where did you get it?"

Kuroba felt a little uneasy telling a potential enemy about her charm but she said, "I found it several years ago. What about it?"

The older woman gently grabbed her right wrist and fixed her gaze on the purple charm. "This is no ordinary charm," Rias said firmly. "There's…a power dwelling inside it, slumbering. It's waiting for the right moment to awaken. That much I can say."

"What?" Kuroba said in shock. It didn't seem possible, but given how the charm had glowed without warning back in Okinawa, there must be some truth to what Rias was saying.

The red-haired woman let go of the teen and looked her in the eye with a serious expression. "I'd keep it close to you if I were you. There may come a day where that power may mean life or death."

"Huh?"

Rias didn't answer and instead turned and left the room, leaving a confused Kuroba behind. The Black King stared at her charm bracelet, as if hoping that it would provide an answer, but it just gleamed in the light. Kuroba then pushed those thoughts aside before changing into her school uniform and hurried to the kitchen to eat. Surprisingly, Kazuto was here too and was sitting next to Frank.

"Kazuto?" Kuroba said slowly. "What are you doing here?"

The Black Swordsman gave his female partner a mischievous smirk. "I could ask you the same thing, but if you want to know, I came to have breakfast with Frank so we discuss a few strategies to use against Seiji. You're more than welcome to join."

"Uh, thanks." Truthfully, this was a welcome distraction after her weird talk with Rias. Kuroba hurried to make herself a quick bowl of cereal before joining her friends at the table, sitting right across from them. _"Hold on. Now that Frank and Kazuto have their memories back, maybe they can help me understand this charm."_

"Frank, Kazuto," she said suddenly. "Can I ask you guys something?"

The boys eyed her curiously. "Sure," Frank replied. "What is it?"

Kuroba removed her bracelet and handed it to her boyfriend, who gingerly accepted it. "Since your memories are back, I was wondering if you might know more about my charm."

Kazuto looked a little puzzled while Frank just stared at the tiny purple sword. "I'm not so sure we can help," Kazuto said slowly. "Even if we've got our memories back, it's not very likely we'd know about some accessory."

"It's not just an accessory!" Kuroba exclaimed, catching the Graphite Edge player off-guard. "That 'accessory' was glowing the night you and Frank were fighting Blados in Okinawa. That wasn't normal. Plus Mrs. Hagino herself just admitted that there's a mysterious power sleeping inside it."

"What?" Kazuto said in disbelief.

Suddenly Frank, who had been silent this whole time, let out a gasp as his eyes widened in realization. "It can't be," he said slowly. "Kazuto, does this sword look familiar to you?"

The male Driver lowered his eyes and examined the charm more closely. It was a skinny sword, almost like a rapier and had sharp edges near the handle, which had a peculiar pattern. It all looked very familiar to the dual wielder, but why?

Then, as if a switch had been flipped in his head, Kazuto realized why the charm looked so familiar. But it was impossible. There's no way _that_ sword could still be around, especially since its owner had died thirty years ago.

"There's no way," Kazuto said in shock. "It's Yuuki's sword, Macuahuitl!"

Now Kuroba was in shock. "Are you serious?!" she questioned fiercely. "But why would Macuahuitl still be around after all this time? And how did it turn into a charm piece?"

"I don't know," Frank said firmly. "But my mom is right. This charm does have some power in it. I couldn't sense it before because of my amnesia but know I can feel it."

Kazuto placed his left hand on top of the charm and closed his eyes. "I sense it too. But that's not the only thing I sense. It's hard to make out, but I think I sense a presence inside it. A presence I haven't felt in years."

Kuroba's eyes flashed in realization as she recalled the voice she had heard when the charm had glowed. "Could it be Yuuki?" she asked quickly.

"Possibly," Kazuto replied as he retracted his hand. "Macuahuitl was her sword after all. Somehow Yuuki must have left an imprint of her soul in her sword and it maintained a physical appearance long after the last Fenrir Effect of the Demon War had worn off."

What Kazuto said must have been true. The Fenrir Effect allowed the people of this world to change into their avatars from VRMMOs, including their weapons. However, the Fenrir Effect isn't permanent and unless it is renewed, eventually its power will deplete and anything that came from it, like weapons and equipment, will disappear. Spells were a little different as any damage or repairs they do will not go away.

"But how can that be?" Kuroba questioned.

"Beats me," Kazuto said. "Any ideas, Frank?"

Frank simply shrugged. "I'm just as clueless as you guys," he answered. "But I can say one thing for sure though." A few tears leaked from his eyes. "Holding this charm in my hand, makes me feel like Yuuki's watching over us."

For the briefest of moments, Kuroba saw the translucent image of the Absolute Sword standing behind Frank with her hands on his shoulders. She had a loving smile on her face and her eyes were full of affection before she disappeared.

Kuroba couldn't help but smile at the sight. "I'm sure she is, Frank," she said honestly. "I don't know much about Yuuki, but I know that she loved you with all her heart."

"Her heart?" Frank repeated before an idea popped in his head. "Hey, maybe we should name this charm Yuuki's Heart?"

Kazuto smiled as the suggestion made him think about the time when he and his partner turned Yui into a small gem to keep the Cardinal System of Sword Art Online from deleting her. They had christened that gem as Yui's Heart. To call Kuroba's charm "Yuuki's Heart" really seemed to fit.

"I've got no problem with that," Kazuto said. "What about you, Kuroba?"

"I like it," the Black King replied. "I can't think of a more deserving name."

Frank handed the bracelet back to its owner, who put it back on, before taking on a more serious expression. "Last night I kept thinking about how Seiji avoids being on the matching list. What if we've been looking at it all wrong?"

That got the other Burst Linkers' interest. "What are you talking about?" Kuroba asked.

"As you both know, the Neurolinker isn't the first VR device. That honor goes to the NerveGear, a headgear that was released by Argus in 2020, which was then used to turn Sword Art Online into a death game in 2022. However, both the NerveGear and its successor, the Amusphere, were made only for full dives."

"True," Kazuto added. "And Neurolinkers were the first to implement AR where you could operate a virtual desktop in the real world—"

"Actually, that's wrong," Frank said suddenly. "This thought kept bugging me last night so I did some research on VR machines and found out some pretty shocking stuff. You see, the first generation of Neurolinkers were released in April of 2034, but there was a VR device that predates it _after_ the Amusphere was released."

Kuroba found herself nervously swallowing. "What is it?"

"Brain implant chips, or BIC for short," Frank said sternly. "A small neuroelectronic chip that is implanted between the surface of the cerebrum and the dura mater. It has self-growing terminals placed on the sensory area of the brain's surface, allowing the owner to use AR displays like the virtual desktop and even do full dives without any extra equipment. In a sense, it was the ultimate VR machine, even more than the Neurolinker."

Kazuto's eyes widened in shock. "You're right, Frank. I remember reading about those after our memories started to come back. I was curious to see how technology has progressed over the thirty years, aside from the Neurolinker. The BIC was put on the market back 2029, but after a few years, it was banned in Japan."

"Interesting," Kuroba mused. "Why would they ban something so advantageous?"

"It was because of those advantages that the BIC was banned," Frank explained. "Think about it. Unlike the Neurolinker, you can't turn off the chip, much less take it off. If a hacker got into your system, it would be very difficult to fight back. On the other hand, you could also use it to get around rules in a variety of ways, like say on school tests."

All this sounded way too familiar to the Black King. In fact, the pieces were quickly coming together in her mind. "I get it," Kuroba said. "Because the Neurolinker wasn't released then, VR machines weren't allowed for high school or university entrance exams, or any kind of certification test really, but if you had a BIC implant, you could easily get full marks in all memorization-type subjects. It would be like you having access to every dictionary and reference book that was ever printed."

Frank nodded in confirmation. "Exactly. Cases of desperate parents implanting BICs in their children so they could pass certification tests spread across the country until the government was forced to take action. They regulated the production and use of BICs before eventually banning it. They're still in production, but they are incredibly hard to get and only have specific purposes. However, there are rumors that some hospitals allow BIC implants from the black market."

Kuroba clenched her teeth in anger and balled her fists tightly. "If anyone could get their hands on such a device, it would be Seiji," she said bitterly. "That's why his name won't appear on the matching list. He never connected a Neurolinker with Brain Burst in it to the net, he did it with a BIC. But if that's the case, how did you manage to make your back-door program work?"

Kazuto scratched the back of his neck. "I guess now would be a good time to mention I found something odd when I hacked into Seiji's Neurolinker," he said slowly. "I meant to tell you guys yesterday but I never had a chance to bring it up. Seiji's Neurolinker only has the most basic of programs on it, something that won't draw suspicion. However, as I was searching for the Brain Burst program, I found something else, another back-door program."

"What?!" the other teens exclaimed in disbelief.

"It was nowhere near as complex as the one Frank and I made, but it was enough to nearly slip past my notice," Kazuto continued. "When I accessed the program, that's when I found the Brain Burst program and several data files on various subjects, one of which was about _us_. That program must serve as a link between Seiji's BIC and Neurolinker so that he can switch between them whenever he wants. Just to be safe, I had installed our back-door program onto his BIC."

"Creepy," Frank said in disgust. "So basically, Seiji uses his Neurolinker as a standalone device, which allows him to avoid duels as he could connect to the network through his BIC. Take the kendo match with Suguha; Seiji used the BIC in his head to connect to the local net, but he used his unconnected Neurolinker to physically accelerate and dodge Suguha's shinai."

Kazuto suddenly smirked. "Now we have our own lethal information," he said eagerly. "You can check for BIC with an X-ray scanner. If a chip is found in Seiji's brain, then his acceptance at Umesato will definitely be rescinded."

Kuroba smirked too. "Yes. We've got the perfect hand now," she said coldly, the tone of the Black King, Black Lotus. "All that's left to do is play it."

**To be continued**

* * *

**With current events, like COVID-19, updates will probably be pretty slow since now I have to do the rest of my college semester online. I'm really sorry about this. Anyway, this was not how I intended the chapter to go, but I'll take it, especially since this chapter in particular gave me quite a bit of trouble to write. So Marth and his partners are aware that Rias isn't a human and how Seiji has been avoiding the matching list. If I'm right, this arc should end in about one or two chapters, although this depends on how the first one will go. I'll see you guys next time!**


	28. Behind The Mask

**April 20th, 2057**

Rias had left her apartment shortly before her son and his friends did. She had gone into the nearby subway station to get to her job at a major business company. Her wage there was decent enough that it had allowed her and her son to take occasional vacations out of the city, which Frank had loved as a child as it helped him get away from the stigma of him being called a freak because of his powers. Of course, she could use her magic to ease her financial problems, but the demon lord wanted to keep a low profile.

Under other circumstances, Rias would have been more than happy to erase anyone's memories of Frank's abilities, but it would be time-consuming to track them all down plus they only knew the bare minimum of what her son's powers were, which was the enhanced strength and speed. It's only when people learned of Frank's multiple forms that the demon lord took action, with the only exception being Frank's friends as she knew they could be trusted to keep the secret.

The northbound subway was coming into view, however, right before Rias could prepare to board, she heard a voice say, "Well this is certainly a surprise. I never would've assumed that _you_ would try to work like the rest of these mongrels."

Rias's eyes widened in shock as she recognized the voice. She quickly turned around and saw a familiar red-haired demon sneering right behind her.

"Arcanos," she said venomously, while sending a death glare to her fellow demon. "What do you want?"

Arcanos was wearing casual clothes that fit the era, likely to blend in with the populace so as to not draw attention. But why would he reveal himself to her now, after all this time? He must have known that she'd been in Tokyo for the last thirty years. Was he planning on attacking her here, out in public?

Such a thought unnerved the demon sorceress. While she did care about humans and worried about the casualties a potential battle between two demon lords would cause, she knew it would also draw the attention of Frank and his friends, likely prompting them to investigate. Rias was confident that she could hold her own against Arcanos in a fight, but all these factors made her feel more hesitant than usual.

As if to mock her, Arcanos let out a cynical chuckle. "Why so cruel, Rias?" he cackled. "Is that any way to treat an old friend? Altena would be so disappointed in you."

Hearing the name of her old friend made Rias more agitated. She didn't acknowledge the final warning to board the subway as she kept her gaze fixed on the swordsman. "We are not friends, and don't you dare mention Altena like that. You and I both know that if she were here, we'd be having a _much_ different conversation."

Arcanos, however, remained composed despite the threat. "True, Altena was the strongest demoness to ever live. She even rivaled Zarc, our king. Such a shame she chose to side with these weaklings and those half-breeds she would call a son and daughter."

"Shut it, you bastard!" Rias said in anger. Their conversation was drawing some attention from the humans, but neither of them cared. "Unlike you and Zarc, Altena actually cared about humans and wanted to protect them. As for her son, Zane, and her daughter, Lucia, she was doing her duty as a mother, protecting her children."

"Except that didn't work so well for any of them, did it?" Arcanos goaded with that same sneer on his face. "Altena lost her life, and Zane split his soul into fragments in a foolish attempt to combat Zeta whenever he would appear across the ages, leaving poor Lucia all alone."

"Is there a reason you're here or are you just trying to provoke me?"

Arcanos let out a chuckle. "Oh, a little bit of both. I just thought I'd offer you to join me in locating Zarc and wiping out humanity."

"You already know my answer. I'll never join you or your conquest. You're a disgrace to demons."

"Funny, because most mythologies and religions tend to view demons as evil beings," Arcanos said in a snarky tone. "So wouldn't that make _you_ the disgrace?"

Unfortunately, Arcanos had a point. Most of the world's perception on demons was that they were evil and corrupted anyone who came into contact with them. But that wasn't always the case. There was a time, in an era long lost to history, where demons were seen as both good _and_ bad. They were respected and feared. But that all changed when Zeta began his war on humanity and radicalized the demons with ill intentions. Only a handful of the good demons had survived the usurpation, with Altena and Rias being two of them.

"Altena may be gone, but my promise to her remains," Rias said firmly, her grip on her purse tightening as she spoke. "I swore that I would protect her children in her stead, and I fully intend to keep my word."

It was true that Rias took Frank in to honor her oath to Altena, but that didn't mean she didn't care about him. Far from it, in fact. She genuinely loved the boy ever since she adopted him when he was ten. Rias has even come to view Frank as her own son, something she knew Altena would approve of. She also viewed Meg as her daughter too, who was none other than Lucia's reincarnation, despite the fact that she lives in a different apartment. Rias knew that monsters had attacked Meg several times before she was reunited with her brother, but what the girl didn't know was that the female demon lord had actually protected her by ambushing her attackers in the real world while Meg fought them in the Accelerated World.

Rias knew it would have been better if she had gotten the siblings sooner, but something told her to wait until they reunited on their own terms. What that something was, she'll never know. Thankfully Meg liked to drop by their apartment rather frequently, but Rias is still looking for a way to convince the girl to live with them permanently so she could better protect her.

Arcanos's sneer vanished and was replaced by a passive expression. "So that's how you feel," he said slowly. "Very well. If you truly wish to take this path to death, then I won't stop you. In fact, I hope that this path will end with me taking your life. By the way, do you recognize this?" The male demon reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a thin vial of red liquid. Rias immediately knew it was blood, but it wasn't ordinary blood. Even from a few feet away, Rias noticed trails of darkness within the liquid, the blood of demons.

Rias's eyes widened in shock as she put the pieces together in her head. There were only two individuals who possessed _that_ type of blood in this era, and one of them had recently gotten into a battle where blood was shed.

"Arcanos, you snake," Rias said in anger. "Was that your goal in Okinawa all along?! To get Frank's blood and use it for your own ambitions?"

"Actually no, it was just a happy accident that I acquired this," Arcanos replied with surprising honesty. "I was hoping that Gandora would take out that half-breed, but that damn Night Remnant and Dawn Remnant interfered. If it wasn't for them, then Zane's reincarnation would be dead."

"Just what do you plan to do with that blood?" Rias questioned intently. Demon blood possessed a certain kind of power and a proper sorcerer could find ways to weaponize it. Plus, Altena's blood was especially powerful, even with human blood mixed in. Not to mention that Frank's blood might be even more powerful since it also contains small traces of ether energy which his Core Crystal generates in order for it to function.

Arcanos simply smirked as he pocketed the vial. "Now where's the fun in telling you everything? I'll just leave that to your imagination. Anyway, it's time for me to go. Farewell, Rias." Arcanos turned and walked off before disappearing from sight.

There was another announcement of the next northbound subway, but Rias wasn't planning on going to her job now. Her instincts were telling her that her son was going to get himself involved in another battle, and she couldn't help him if she was stuck inside an office. Rias quickly accessed her virtual keyboard and typed a message to her supervisor that she wasn't feeling well so she couldn't come in today. Her supervisor replied by saying that she would be allowed time off for today and hoped that she'll just relax to let the illness pass.

However, relaxing was far from Rias's mind as she hurried to Umesato High School, hoping that she won't be too late.

* * *

Kazuto was waiting for Seiji in the north courtyard, the same place where the freshman had ambushed his sister and stole her wings, while under the shade of the trees. He had told the younger Burst Linker that they needed to talk and since there were no cameras here, this was the perfect place to not be overheard.

The Black Swordsman wished that he was here the day of the attack. Maybe if he was here, he could've prevented Suguha's wings from being taken, but now wasn't the time for those thoughts. Kazuto would also be lying if he said he didn't enjoy watching Frank throttle the dusk avatar yesterday. He was a little nervous at first since Seiji's trump card was still unknown, but the way Frank, or rather Marth, handled himself during that battle showed that he had everything under control.

But now it is Kazuto's turn to fight the thief. They have the perfect hand to force Seiji into doing whatever they want. Kazuto will make sure this will be Dusk Taker's _last_ battle.

Kazuto soon heard branches breaking under footfalls approaching him from behind, prompting him to turn around. He stared at the innocent yet cunning smile of the lowerclassman, who appeared from the shadow of a thick oak's trunk.

"That's game over, Seiji Nomi—or should I say, Dusk Taker."

"…What did you say?" Smile still playing his lips, Seiji cocked his head slightly. "Does this mean that you're giving up and admitting defeat?"

"Not even. I mean that this game with you is finished," Kazuto said in a low voice, his tone deadly serious.

Seiji's smile gradually faded, and a faint line of displeasure dug in between his eyebrows. "I would've thought you'd be smarter than that, Kirigaya. I'll admit that Furuta took me by surprise with that Incarnate attack of his, but it won't help. You can't stop me, Kirigaya. Soon I'll defeat Black King and rule this school—no, the entire Suginami area."

"Wow, you sure sound confident today, Dusk Taker," a female voice spoke up. "Far different from when my protégé crushed you yesterday."

The Dusk Taker player flinched in fear as both Kuroba and Marth (SAO form) appeared from behind other trees, effectively trapping him.

"Where did you two come from?!" Seiji exclaimed in fear, his earlier bravado quickly vanishing.

"I've got a max level Hiding skill tied to my SAO form," Marth replied casually while adjusting his studded collar, before reverting to his civilian form. "Someone like you could never detect me."

"And Marth was kind enough to give me some pointers on how to conceal my presence so you couldn't detect me," Kuroba added with a cold smirk. "Face it, Seiji. _You're_ the one who's outmatched."

Seiji's face began looking panicked. "Why did you want me here?" he questioned, unable to hide the fear in his voice. "Is it to fight me?"

"No, we'll fight later today," Kazuto said smugly. "My partners and I wanted to inform you that we know about your illegal brain implant chip."

Seiji's eyes widened in shock. "Tch. So you figured out my secret. But I could still report Frank to the government. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to add someone like him to their arsenal."

"True." Frank smirked, which sent a cold shiver down the Dusk Taker's spine. "But that doesn't mean I'll go quietly if they come for me. Plus, if we leak out your BIC, you'll be expelled and be branded as a criminal. I'd say the damage to you is greater than to me."

"We've already decided how we'll settle this," Kuroba added. "You're going to duel Kazuto. If by some miracle you manage to beat him, then you'll have to deal with me and Frank."

For a brief moment, deep anger and irritation rose up in Seiji Nomi's face. "Duel. Burst Linker. Both terms that I despise. No, the very mentality that would seriously use those words is so detestable I can hardly stand it. But…if that is what you desire, then I suppose I have no choice." His expression reverted to his usual faint smile as he leaned against the oak and flipped a finger up. "But if this is how things are going to go, then I have one suggestion."

Kazuto looked a little puzzled. "Suggestion?"

"Don't you all think it's ridiculous to fight accelerated duel after duel, dozens of times, even hundreds of times if it goes poorly, until one of us loses all our points?"

A bad feeling spread through the Black Swordsman's gut, but he didn't care. It didn't matter what Seiji wanted to suggest, it won't stop Kazuto from battling and defeating the smug thief.

"Let's finish this in one go. A 'final battle' you could say," Seiji said, gruesome grin cut into his face. "In the Unlimited Neutral Field, there's a way to wager all the burst points of the players on a single match. Two or more duelers charge all their points into an item, and then the last player left standing gets the item and the points. So? Is that a smart way for us to settle things?"

Frank let out an amused chuckle as he stared at the Dusk Taker player. "As if we can trust you to hold up your end of the bargain, Seiji. How do we know this isn't a plot for you to ambush us in the Unlimited Neutral Field?"

As with regular duels, time passed a thousand times faster in the Unlimited Neutral Field. The only differences were the key words you needed to say to enter the field and that it would cost you ten burst points rather than just one. Because of that cost, it is risky to constantly dive into the Unlimited Neutral Field within the same day. Only a king-class player could sustain that kind of point loss.

Besides, the talk of ambushes within the Unlimited Neutral Field reminded Kazuto of the Yellow Legion's scheme to attack the Red King Niko during the Chrome Disaster incident three months ago. Of course they didn't stay in the field for months waiting for Niko to show up. In the process of transferring the Enhanced Armament, the Yellow Legion had discovered Cherry Rook's real identity, and they had guessed at what time Niko would dive by monitoring _his_ movements. Without means like that, setting up an ambush in the Unlimited Neutral Field is almost impossible.

 _"However, if anyone can pull off an ambush within the Unlimited Neutral Field, it would be Seiji,"_ Kirito thought. His resolve did not waver. This was his best chance to stop Dusk Taker once and for all and he was going to take it. "Fine, Seiji. We'll have a sudden death match. But let me be clear, only you and me will be risking all of our burst points. Frank and Kuroba will be under no such restrictions."

Seiji's smile morphed into a face of irritation. "My, my. That's not very _fair_."

"Like you would know anything about playing fair, Dusk Taker," Kuroba said in frustration, her arms folded across her chest.

"True. Now that our terms have been settled, here's the address we'll meet for our battle. We'll meet there after school in the Unlimited Neutral Field. I'll let you all decide the time." Seiji flicked a mailing address at Kazuto, then whirled around and left the courtyard. Neither Kuroba nor Frank attempted to stop him.

Once he disappeared inside the school, the trio smirked over their victory.

"It went just like you expected, Kuroba," Kazuto said smugly. "Seiji definitely feels threatened now. It would have been nice to settle things here and now, but I can wait a few hours."

The Black King let out a chuckle. "It's only because Seiji is so predictable. People of his type need power for their superiority acts. He'll do whatever it takes to stay above those he discriminates."

Frank folded his arms and leaned into a nearby tree. "This plan is pretty risky though. We don't know how many people are in this organization with Seiji. Plus it's highly possible that he'll have a monster by his side for the attack."

Kazuto let out a sigh. "Unfortunately, this is our only option to stop Seiji. Asuna and the others will be there too, so even if Seiji does ambush us, we won't be alone."

"Agreed," Kuroba said with a nod. "To call this a battle between Burst Linkers would be an insult. Seiji is no Burst Linker. He's an acceleration user. This battle won't just be for revenge and retrieving Suguha's wings, it will be a battle of pride."

The Dark Swordsman cracked a grin. "It's almost over guys. Let's do our best and kick Seiji's ass!"

"Yeah!" Kazuto and Kuroba as they joined their hands with Frank.

Suddenly Frank's chest flared with excruciating pain. "Gaaaah!" he exclaimed as he hunched over while clutching his Core Crystal with his right hand. The pain was so bad that he could hardly think straight. It was almost like his body was trying to tear itself apart.

"Frank!" Kuroba shouted in worry as she grabbed him by his shoulders to keep him steady. For some reason, she wasn't feeling the Blade Eater's pain, despite sharing his core. That concerned the Black King immensely.

Even Kazuto was shocked. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Soon the pain subsided, leaving Frank panting. "That's…never happened before." He stared at his right palm, eyes wide in disbelief. "I've never…felt pain like that before. I'm fine now though."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kuroba questioned, her eyes still full of panic. Her heart was pounding. "You looked ready to collapse just now."

Frank could only nod his head.

"Could Fenrir have caused that?" Kazuto asked in suspicion, his partners staring at him as he spoke. "I mean, whenever he contacts you, it causes you pain."

The Blade Eater slowly shook his head. "No," Frank replied. "That felt different from whenever Fenrir spoke to me. It was almost…like my body was fighting against itself just now."

Both Drivers looked rather puzzled. "What are you talking about?" Kazuto questioned. "Why would your body fight itself?"

"I don't know," Frank said sadly. "But I should still be okay to fight." He checked the virtual clock that was in his peripheral vision. "C'mon. We need to get to class. Let's meet up with Asuna and the others after school to go over the plan."

Both Kazuto and Kuroba could only nod as they followed the Blade Eater back into the school.

"Hey, Kuroba," Kazuto whispered to his female partner. "We might need to keep a closer eye on Frank. Whatever that was just now _wasn't_ normal."

"I agree," Kuroba murmured. "I doubt that Frank is hiding anything from us, but he's clearly not okay. Something's felt off about him ever since the battle with Gandora back in Okinawa. Could it involve the Curse of the Destroyers?"

The Black Swordsman shook his head. "No, that can't be it. This is something else. I only hope we can find out what it is and stop it before anything bad happens."

Unbeknownst to the teens however, Rias was watching them from behind some trees. She had just arrived via teleportation and had witnessed everything, including her son's sudden spurt of pain. Tears leaked from her eyes as she stared at her son disappearing into the school.

"No," the demoness said in despair, her hands covering her mouth and fell to her knees. "I was afraid this would happen eventually. Frank, my sweet boy, no…" The words caught in her throat and wept.

* * *

**Later that day**

Graphite Edge opened his eyes and gazed at the beautiful night sky of the Unlimited Neutral Field. The surface of the earth, the buildings, everything was white as though the color had been drained out. The world wasn't colorless, but more like the shade of dried bone. Square houses cast neat shadows on the broad road. In the distance, the Shinjuko center, transformed into chalk towers carving out spirals, pierced the night sky and soared upward.

He was with Lotus, Wolf, Flash, Sniper, Fencer, and Fairy as they had all dived together after Seiji had sent him the time on when they were supposed to meet for their battle.

"A Moonlight stage?" Klein—Red Shogun said in surprise as he, Agil, otherwise known as Green Guardian, and Silica, Azure Tamer, appeared beside their teammates. Shogun looked like a classic samurai with fancy armor with a katana strapped to his waist. Guardian greatly resembled Agil's SAO avatar, with a helmet covering his face and a large two-handed axe strapped to his back. Finally, Silica's Duel Avatar resembled her Cait Sith avatar from ALO, however her hair was a lighter shade of blue instead of brown. She also had a face mask, just like Shogun, and had red eye sleeves as well as an ornate dagger in an indigo sheath strapped to her waist.

"This stage is bright, but you basically can't see anything in the shadows," Graphite Edge said as he recounted the characteristics of this stage. "Noise carries from far away but there aren't many Enemies as well as no trap-style terrain effects."

"Surprise attacks from a hiding place in open spaces are practically impossible in this stage," Black Lotus added. "However, that doesn't mean we can lower our guard. Let's head to the meeting point."

The others simply nodded in acknowledgement before they all marched towards the designated area. Soon the Black Legion arrived at a large building that resembled a medieval European palace, but they hid in the shadows to observe. It looked to be a gothic style with enormous columns lined up along the front, and several sculptures of angels and demons jutted out from the walls.

"Demons," Black Wolf said quietly, catching his friends' attention.

"Something wrong, Marth?" Argent Flash questioned.

Wolf just shook his head letting out a grunt in disgust. "No. Seeing those just reminded me of Zarc and Arcanos."

"Um, none of those statues are duel avatars, are they?" Azure Tamer asked nervously as she instinctively huddled close to Green Guardian.

Suddenly both Wolf and Graphite began chanting the incantation for the night-vision spell, something that was exclusive to the Spriggan race in Alfheim Online. When they finished, their eyes took on a shade of green before examining the palace thoroughly.

"Nope," Graphite Edge said after a minute. "They're just statues. We'll still need to proceed carefully though. There's a high possibility that this is a trap."

"Indeed," Aqua Sniper replied. "Alright. Kirito, Kuroba and Marth will go ahead while the rest of us follow from a distance while keeping watch for any potential ambushes. That's the still plan, correct?"

Black Lotus nodded her head in confirmation. "Spot on as usual, Sinon. There's no doubt in my mind that Seiji will have someone helping him for this. We need to be ready for anything."

Red Shogun smirked as he smacked his right fist into his left palm. "Sounds good to me. Make sure to kick Seiji's ass for me, Kirito!"

"You got it, Klein," Graphite Edge said before eyeing his sister, Verdant Fairy, who was simply staring at him. "Don't worry, Sugu. I'm gonna get your wings back and make sure Seiji never hurts you again."

Verdant simply smiled in response. "I know you will, Brother. You've never backed down from a fight that mattered before. Why would this be any different?"

The Black Legion soon entered the castle grounds, with Lotus, Graphite and Wolf in the lead. The expansive grounds soon became a garden covered by thin tiles in complex patterns. There was not a single object on the field, just long thin shadows cast by the lance-like towers—formerly the main pillars of the baseball fence.

"Doesn't look like anyone's here," Black Wolf spoke up, and Lotus nodded. However, the Dark Swordsman still looked skeptical about the area.

"Seems that way. Maybe Seiji was a half second behind us on the dive."

The faint sound of the wind reached the trio's ears. The Moonlight stage was completely windless, so that meant that something had to be moving in the sky. It could only be two things—a flying Enemy or a flying duel avatar. Whirling his head up toward the south-western sky, Graphite Edge growled the instant he saw it.

A shadow approached within the night sky aglitter with tiny stars, and then shined white in the moonlight. Slim body. Claws on both hands. And stretching out from his back: devil wings. It was none other than Dusk Taker.

"He's here," the Black Swordsman said coldly.

The flying avatar soon descended. Arms crossed, drawing an elegant spiral in the air, he came down in the center of the courtyard, an almost-silent landing. It was clear that Seiji had mastered the aviation ability.

It was silent for a few moments before Graphite broke it with a single step. "You ready to lose, Seiji?"

Dusk Taker folded his wings before gazing at the other members of Nega Nebulus, who were spreading out while keeping their eyes locked on him. "So you brought your whole Legion with you, Kirito. Do I truly frighten you that much that you need your own cheerleaders to keep your nerves?"

Graphite simply scoffed, completely unfazed by Seiji's remark. "They're here as a precaution," he answered. "Can't be too careful when dealing with you, after all."

Dusk Taker gave a short chuckle before thrusting his right hand out. Pinched between the tips of his fingers was a single card. It resembled the one the Yellow King had used to play a video of the past, only this one was red like blood. This didn't surprise Graphite though as he knew that a majority of special items sold in the Unlimited Neutral Field Shop were card-shaped.

"That's a Sudden Death Duel card," Black Lotus realized. "Those cards are very expensive."

"Correct. As expected from the Black King herself," Dusk Taker said while waving the card. "This'll be my treat. First, I'll charge it with all of my burst points, then Kirito will do the same with his. At the point when my HP gauge becomes zero then he'll get all my burst points. It'll be the opposite if Kirito's HP gauge becomes zero."

"I see," Graphite Edge replied. "How nice of you to come prepared with one of those cards."

Dusk Taker simply smirked at the sarcasm in his opponent's tone. "I have my ways. Now then, the key critical factor here is that the battle won't stop until someone dies. And the person who dies will lose Brain Burst. No holds barred, hmm? Oh, and just so you know, if you leave through a portal, it will be treated as defeat at that moment. You'll be faced with a forced uninstall the moment you return to reality."

"Fine by me. Now let's get started."

Dusk Taker nodded slowly and touched the card with the fingertips of his left hand. He performed several operations and the card gleamed a brief, vivid bright red. Then he tossed it to Graphite, who caught it between the fingers of his right hand. After glancing at his partners beside him, who gave him a simple nod, he clicked with his left and touched the Charge button in the center of the holowindow that popped up.

After scrolling past an explanation of the sudden-death rules, he came across a Yes/No confirmation dialog option and selected Yes. As soon as the prompt asking if he was sure, Graphite realized that he was about to begin a fight to the death in the virtual world again, just as he did before in the iron castle of Aincrad when he fought Heathcliff, otherwise known as Akihiko Kayaba. Just the thought of it sent a chill down his spine. But he wouldn't back down, just like he didn't back then.

As soon as Graphite hit the confirm button, the card flashed a remarkably dazzling red and pulled away from his hand. It then rose up slightly in the sky. Around it, the digital numbers of a countdown slowly rolled down.

"We're lucky news of this battle hadn't spread across the Accelerated World," Lotus spoke up as Graphite drew his black sword before closing his eyes. He seemed to be deep in concentration. "Sudden-death battles are very rare. They're almost unheard of."

"No kidding," Black Wolf replied. "The only instances I know about sudden-death battles is when two level 9 players fight each other. But this wouldn't be the first time Kirito and I had fought under that handicap."

Lotus cracked a knowing smile. "Indeed."

Unbeknownst to any of the players, three people were watching them from the shadows. One was none other than Dark Cerberus, who had spotted them heading to this castle out of sheer luck and followed them. This was a good opportunity to get revenge on the Black King. However, his instincts were telling him to observe for now.

The second person was the masked woman who had saved Wolf and Graphite from the Skull Reaper. Her true identity was none other than Rias Hagino, aka Rias Morningstar. Unlike Cerberus, Rias didn't find Wolf and the others by chance. She had entered the Accelerated World at the same time and place as them while keeping her presence concealed to avoid detection.

 _"Don't worry, Marth,"_ Rias thought to herself as she eyed her adopted son. _"I'm here if you need me."_

The third person, however, was the most mysterious as she leaned into a pillar on a floor high above the courtyard, near opposite of where Rias was. She wore a white straitjacket that had multiple unhooked black straps on her arms and legs, as well as long high-heeled boots that went up to her thighs (which were hidden by the jacket itself). The jacket also had a high collar that could shield her mouth. She had long light green hair that flowed down her back, almost reaching her waist, and gold eyes. She looked to be around Wolf's age, but something about her seemed abnormal.

"I don't know why you want me to watch this," the girl said seemingly to herself, her arms folded across her chest. "This battle has nothing to do with us… Very well. I'll stay and observe, but I still think that this is a waste of time." She then went quiet before finding her gaze drawn to the Blade Eater. Something about him intrigued her. Perhaps this battle could provide an explanation for this.

Soon the countdown reached zero, prompting the flaming letters to announce the start of the duel. Dusk Taker kept his wings folded and threw out the talons of both hands. However, he didn't seem to be generating the purple sensation. Was he planning a ground fight with no Incarnation first?

Graphite wasn't moving either, but a faint golden aura soon flared around him. His hair and bangs ruffled in an imaginary breeze. There was also sense of power rising from him.

 _"Is Kirito really bringing out_ that _sword?"_ the Black King asked herself. _"The only sword that can rival Lunara and Solaris."_ She let out a chuckle. _"This will be interesting to watch. Best of luck, partner."_

Suddenly Kuroba sensed something strange, like someone was near her, hiding in the shadows. Her visor flashed purple and her hands morphed into swords as she took a battle position. "Who's there?!" she proclaimed loudly. "Show yourself!" Several tiles soon changed to black before flinging themselves at her, only to be cut down with ease by her swords.

Black Wolf let out a gasp as he felt a cold sensation on the back of his neck. A killing intent. The feeling came from his left, so he turned in that direction where he saw several projectiles flying towards him. He quickly drew his swords and cut through them all at once, not a single one hitting their mark.

"I knew something felt amiss about this place," Black Wolf said coldly as the other nonparticipating members drew their weapons in response. Rias also took a battle stance, readying to interfere if necessary. "Why don't you both reveal yourselves now?"

"You never change, Marth. I should've known that a sneak attack wouldn't work on you."

Two figures then emerged from the shadows and slowly approached the trio. The figure in front of Kuroba was a very bizarre duel avatar. Their entire body was made of thin panels lined up perpendicularly, almost as if someone had built up layer upon layer of square sheets of paper to form the shapes of body parts. There was a gap of about a centimeter between each panel, so that although a clear silhouette was obvious from the side, from the front, the avatar looked like nothing more than an arrangement of thin vertical lines. The dozens of panels were a lusterless black, as though they had all been painted with ink.

But what truly caught the Black Legion's attention was the avatar's color. The layered avatar was clearly and obviously a perfect black. It had none of the hints of silver like Chrome Disaster, purple like Dusk Taker, or the metallic sheen like Graphite Edge. Instead this black was complete, just like Lotus and Wolf, absorbing all wavelengths of light, rejecting all color.

However, the second person who was right in front of Marth was a very familiar masked girl. Serra. She looked the same as she did back in Okinawa, however the Blade Eater could sense a strange power coming from her.

"Serra?" Marth questioned in surprise. "How did you get into the Accelerated World?"

The mace wielder simply chuckled. "Thanks to Arcanos, I've now received the power to enter the Accelerated World without the Brain Burst program," she explained. "Now I can have my revenge on you whenever I want."

The layered avatar said nothing while the dusk-colored avatar sneered. "Heh-heh! Did you guys honestly think I'd fight fair?!" Seiji said arrogantly. "You guys are gonna lose big time. But first, let me clear things up. I obviously couldn't predict the time you would pick, and neither of my comrades are willing to wait months for us to show up. Both me and this guy," he pointed at the layered avatar, "have brain implant chips. The BIC connects growth terminals to the sensory area of the brain for a bioelectronic interface. Depending on the programming, it's possible to reach the deepest parts of the brain."

"What? Deepest parts?" Wolf said in confusion, and Seiji nodded exaggeratedly.

"Yes. Naturally, it's very dangerous. I myself haven't gone that far. But this person here, despite appearances, is rather daring. The terminals stretch all the way to his brain's mental clock control area."

"Impossible," Emerald Fencer said in disbelief. She looked like she wanted to hurry to her brother but stayed where she was to wait for further orders.

The words "mental clock" were practically the foundation of the acceleration of all Burst Linkers. The Brain Burst program accelerated thought by increasing the user's base clock, which was based on a standard of the user's heart rate, a thousand times within the brain. As long as you were diving in the Normal Duel Field or the Unlimited Duel Field, the amplification was fixed and could not be manipulated in any way.

"So then, Seiji," Kuroba said coldly. "Just how did your allies manage to set up this ambush? Like you said earlier, they couldn't afford to waste months here in the Accelerated World. Doing so would have drastically altered their souls."

"As expected from the Black King," Serra said with a sneer. "I dove in around the same time as Taker, but I was much closer to the meeting point than any of you, so I got here first and made myself hidden. The other guy, however, has been on a dive in this field since eight o'clock in the real world. But he hasn't been sitting around here for a few months. By inactivating the mental clock control area of his brain with the BIC, he can stop the acceleration of his thoughts at will. He is, you see, _the sole deceleration user in the Accelerated World_!"

"De…" Marth started.

"…celeration," Kuroba finished.

Everyone else in Nega Nebulus was shocked as well. The only one who hasn't reacted at all was Kirito, but his golden aura was slowly building.

"…Really now." A new voice finally spoke up, the gentle voice of an older boy, somehow seeming warm even through the electronic effect peculiar to the duel avatar. It came from none other than the layered avatar, who said in a soft voice with no hint of tension, "Look Taker. I can't help but think that all this chatting and running about is what got you into a sudden-death situation in the first place."

"I don't care," Serra replied. "As long as I get my revenge on Marth, I'll be satisfied. Taker can chat up a storm for all I care."

"Ha-ha! I guess that's where we differ in opinion, Black Vise. It's simply that you think silence is a weapon, and I think eloquence. Say, what do you two think? Their stunned faces? Don't they look like our technological strength has already robbed them of the will to fight?"

"Don't make me laugh," Kirito, who had been silent for all this time, finally said. He opened his eyes, full of resolve. "We knew you might try to ambush us, Seiji. That's why we brought all of Nega Nebulus with us. How you did so may have caught us by surprise, but it won't lead to your victory."

Dusk Taker gritted his teeth in frustration. "You sure talk big, Black Swordsman," Seiji retorted. "Just how do you plan to deal with my Incarnate attack. One touch and your swords will vanish!"

Graphite Edge simply smirked as his gold aura gathered around his left hand. "I'm not so sure your Incarnate attack will do any harm against _this sword_!" He swung his left hand to be parallel with his shoulder, causing a golden sword with emeralds embedded in the hilt to appear. The sword seemed to radiate light and possessed a presence of incredible power.

Serra's eyes widened in shock while most of Nega Nebulus cheered. "It can't be?! That sword!"

"Seiji Nomi," Kirito said firmly before moving the golden sword in front of him, "say hello to the Holy Sword Excalibur. One of the most powerful weapons in Alfheim Online and the only sword that rivals Lunara and Solaris. It took longer than I expected to bring it out, but this is the strongest sword I possess, and I'm gonna use it to take you down."

"Tsk," Seiji grunted. "I'd like to see you try. Vise, you handle Lotus. Serra, Marth's all yours."

Black Vise wordlessly nodded and prepared an attack while Serra drew her weapons.

"Hold it, Serra," Wolf spoke up. "Back in Okinawa, you said I caused you pain. You lost someone in the Demon War, didn't you? Who was it?"

Serra let out a chuckle. "I figured you would ask that question. Very well. I'll tell you who I lost. It's someone you should already know. My best friend and partner, Victoria Blackburn, otherwise known as Celina of the Alfheim Warriors!"

Everyone in the Black Legion gasped in shock.

"Celina?" Sinon said quietly.

"It can't be," Asuna added as the pieces started connecting in her head. Her face was completely distraught. "Please don't let this be true."

"Oh, it is," Serra said with a snide grin as she lowered her hood, revealing short pink hair. She then took off her mask, revealing her face to her former teammates. "It's been a long time, everyone. Did you miss me?"

Agil tightened his grip on his double-axe. "Is this some kind of sick joke?!" he said in anger.

"You bastard!" Klein shouted in outrage. "You're a freaking traitor!"

"No, please no," Silica begged in despair, tears leaking from her eyes.

"How could you?!" Thorrnn exclaimed. "You were our friend!"

However, the ones who looked the most shocked were none other than Marth, Kirito and Asuna. The pink-haired mace user was none other than their missing teammate, Lisbeth. However, instead of her usual pink eyes, they were now a bloodred. Something about those eyes made the group feel uneasy, something not natural.

"Heh-heh. I stopped being your friend the moment Marth killed Celina," Lisbeth explained. "The only thing pushing me forward is getting revenge. I won't let anything get in my way, not even those I considered friends and family."

Black Wolf gritted his teeth in frustration. "I didn't kill Celina!" he protested. "That was Zarc's doing, not mine!"

"It doesn't matter!" Lisbeth refuted. "Because you fused with that stupid core on your chest, you caused the Demon War to happen in the first place. You're still guilty in my eyes."

"But I…" Marth tried to say.

"Don't waste your breath, Marth," Kuroba spoke up.

"Kuroba's right," Kirito agreed. "Lisbeth's not gonna listen to reason. We've got no choice but to fight her."

Black Wolf tightened his grip on his swords so much that it slightly hurt. "I know, but that doesn't make this any more frustrating."

"If you want, I can switch places with you," Black Lotus offered, only for her protégé to shake his head.

"I appreciate it, but Lisbeth's after me. I've got to settle this and bring her to her senses."

The Black King nodded in understanding before taking on a battle stance to ready an attack on Black Vise. Graphite Edge and Black Wolf did the same for their opponents.

"Well then," Seiji said smugly. "I'd say that's enough talking. Let's get this battle started!"

Immediately afterward the duelists charged at each other, each readying an attack while everyone else watched in anticipation.

**To be continued**

* * *

**Wow, this chapter took way longer than I expected. I had hoped to get this out near the end of April and now it's the beginning of May. Sorry, college has been a real pain since it's the end of the semester and I have lot of stuff to worry about to make sure I pass, plus Persona 5 Royal ate a lot of my spare time (and Hatsune Miku Project Diva Future Tone, that game is really good at eating up time). Anyway, Serra's true identity has been revealed and the climax with Dusk Taker draws near! Hopefully the next chapter will finally conclude this arc (this one has been longer than I expected it would).**

**Edit Note: After writing so many chapters I can see why Reki Kawahara chose to use the Accel World characters' real names within the Accelerated World because it's freaking exhausting typing their dual avatar names so many times. From now on, I'll be using everyone's real names (when the characters learn them) when in the Accelerated World. This'll be especially useful since Marth and Kuroba share the same color. Btw, I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but "Kuroba Yukiko" isn't a name that I came up with for Kuroyukihime, that's her real name from the web novel. It's not in the light novels (at least not yet, it's still possible it'll get mentioned in later books). More you know, I guess.**


	29. Reclaiming What Was Lost

**April 20th, 2057**

"Sei!" Kirito shouted as his swords clashed against Seiji's bare arms, with Excalibur leaving a deeper cut than his black sword.

"Gah!" Seiji exclaimed in pain as his HP gauge went down by 20 percent. He quickly jumped back and held his left arm (which was the arm Excalibur had slashed) in his other hand. "I'll admit that gold sword of yours is pretty impressive. Just one attack took a chunk out of my HP."

The Black Swordsman simply chuckled. "Well Excalibur shares the same stats as Lunara and Solaris, so it makes sense that it hits hard. I doubt even your Incarnate attack can stop it."

Seiji's eyes narrowed in frustration. "We'll see. This battle has only just begun." His right arm soon morphed into the familiar tentacle armament he used against Marth and Leafa while his left arm changed into what seemed to be a blaster of sorts.

_"Is he attempting to attack from a distance to stay out of Excalibur's range?"_ Kirito questioned. _"I would have expected him to use his Incarnate attack after that exchange rather than this. Just what is he up to?"_

It was clear that when it came to melee combat, Kirito had the advantage over the dusk avatar. Not only was Excalibur magnifying his power, but he had refined his skill in Dual Blades for years. He knew every single Sword Skill tied to the Extra Skill, and of course the Skill Connect exploit, the latter of which was a technique only he and Marth were capable of doing. Kuroba was able to perform the exploit once with just one sword, but it was largely thanks to luck that she managed to do it successfully. Once Seiji is dealt with, Kirito and Marth agreed to advance Kuroba's training to the Dual Blades fighting style that they had mastered in Aincrad.

Seiji soon aimed his blaster arm at Kirito and half a second later, shot flames at the swordsman from the short gun barrel. It wasn't a physical bullet, nor a beam of light, but extremely dense, near-liquid fire. It was like the breath attacks from dragons in fantasy games.

"Hng!" Kirito grunted from between gritted teeth as he rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding the attack. However, he still felt the fierce heat beat down against his back.

"Gah! Everyone, move!" Asuna suddenly shouted.

Kirito turned around and saw that a pond of molten liquid, about five meters in diameter, was now between him and several of his friends. That all but confirmed that this Enhanced Armament was a flamethrower, one that was capable of reaching terrifyingly hot temperatures. If he took a direct hit from that thing even once, the ground below him would without a doubt melt, leaving him unable to move before he would be burned to a crisp.

The Black Swordsman then glanced at his partners, who were locked into their own battles, and saw that they didn't seem to be affected by Seiji's flamethrower, which was a relief. Kirito returned his gaze to his opponent, who was sneering over the damage his attack caused.

"How do like my Pyro Dealer?" Seiji asked snidely. "I never got a chance to use it yesterday during my battle with Furuta, but I found out that it works very well with the powers of flight. Shall I show you what I mean, _Kirito_?"

"Don't get so confidant!" Kirito snapped back at the dusk avatar. "I've dealt with attacks like that before!"

He then charged at his opponent, who readied another blast from his flamethrower and fired again. However, rather than dodge again, Kirito instead activated the defense skill, Spinning Shield, with Excalibur, blocking the attack, however his advance was halted as the defense skill cannot be executed while moving. He still felt the scorching heat from the fire, especially in his left hand, but he pushed through the sensation. As if in response to his willpower, Excalibur engulfed itself in a golden aura, repelling the flames from it and its master.

"What?! Impossible!" Seiji shouted in shock.

Even Kirito was surprised. It seems that he didn't know everything about the Holy Sword after all. Just what else was this sword hiding within it?

In the meantime, Marth was locked in combat with Lisbeth, his former comrade. His twin blades struck against her shield, knocking the pinkette back a few feet, but she quickly recovered and ran at the dual wielder again. As she ran at her former friend, Lisbeth's mace became incased in black lightning before swinging at Marth's left side. However, Marth was able to block it with his swords, but the impact from the attack was greater than he expected and found himself struggling to move.

"Black lightning?" Marth questioned in strained tone. It reminded him of the black lightning attack that had saved him and Kirito from the Skull Reaper two days ago. It couldn't possibly have been Lisbeth who saved them back then, but that particular color really stood out to him. Then there were those red eyes of hers, instead of their usual blue. They were definitely not natural and almost resembled the color of human blood. In fact, seeing that color brought back a memory from Aincrad that he had buried deep within his subconscious, a memory that he regrets the most. It wasn't a memory of the lives he claimed during the Laughing Coffin raid, but something far worse. It was a memory that only a handful of people knew about, which were the ones who were present at that terrible time.

"Liz, what happened to you? What have you done to yourself?"

The mace-wielder simply sneered. "I guess I could tell you. Arcanos transferred demon essence into me through a special ritual, magnifying my powers and allowing me to enter this world without the Brain Burst program. However, it also changed my eye color to bloodred, but that's a minor issue."

Marth gritted his teeth as he attempted to push the mace back. "What? But how can that be?"

"You remember how Zarc managed to summon all those monsters from SAO, ALO and GGO during the Demon War? Well it's a two-way thing. Monsters from his era can use a simple spell that can transport their souls into the virtual world, but that does come with its own risks."

"What risks?" Marth questioned. He immediately thought about what happened to Cyan Demon after his death in the Accelerated World. "Are you saying that they can die for real here?"

"I think I'll leave that to your imagination," Lisbeth answered with a sinister grin. "Now let's continue our battle." She began putting more force into her attack, inching it closer to the Blade Eater's chest.

The Dark Swordsman let out a strained grunt before finally repelling the silver mace. Lisbeth was a lot stronger than she was back in Okinawa and in Alfheim Online. It seems that she was telling the truth about that ritual. There was also the possibility that it also granted her other abilities that she was keeping secret. This whole thing left Marth in a terrible predicament. He can't afford to hold back against Lisbeth, otherwise it would lead to his defeat, but if he goes all out, there is the risk that he could kill the girl for real. Even though the blacksmith player had changed sides and was fighting for his enemy, Arcanos, Marth didn't want to kill her over it. He may have done some things in his past that he hides away, but this was a line he didn't want to cross. What can he do to stop this insane battle?

"Brother! Look out!" his sister, Thorrnn, cried out in warning.

Marth snapped out of his thoughts as he saw more black lightning bolts soaring towards him at high-speed. He pushed aside the hesitation in his mind and quickly fired back with his purple lightning bolts, which met the opposing attack midway. The two blasts cancelled each other out and resulted in a powerful explosion of energy that pushed the swordsman back. Lisbeth then charged at him once more, prompting Marth to do the same. Their weapons clashed loudly as they attacked each other rapidly, with neither one backing down.

"This is insane," Klein said through gritted teeth, his palms clenched so tightly it hurt. "I can't believe Liz would betray us like this. Did our friendship mean nothing to her?"

"I don't know," Agil said slowly, his arms folded across his chest as he and the remaining members of Nega Nebulus watched the 3v3 battle. "Lisbeth took Celina's death pretty hard, so much so that she snapped at Marth and blamed him for it. Still, I never would have thought that she would side with Arcanos and his forces over it."

Thorrnn was silent as she watched her brother with bated breath, her hands intertwined in front of her chest. It was no secret that the siblings were very close, but that wasn't always the case. When their birth parents were murdered nearly forty years ago, Marth became very distant, even after the Furutas took them in. The only person he ever fully opened up to was Kirito, someone who like a brother to him. It wasn't until Marth got out of the death game that was Sword Art Online that he began to reconnect with her. However, even then, Marth has yet to fully open himself to her, something she hopes will be rectified soon.

Not to mention that even though she was not one of her brother's Drivers, she felt that something was wrong with him. This sensation surfaced ever since Marth had returned from Okinawa. Nothing seemed off to her on a physical level, making the rapier-user wonder if it was an internal issue. She hoped desperately that it was nothing severe as she couldn't bear the thought of losing her only remaining family member. Such a thing would tear her apart and remove her will to live. What would be the point of living in a world without her beloved brother?

Suddenly Thorrnn felt slight nudge on her right shoulder. She turned in that direction and saw none other than Sinon, otherwise known as Aqua Sniper, who had a sympathetic look in her eyes. While Leafa was Thorrnn's best friend, the bluenette was a close second as she could easily relate to the fencer's traumatic past.

"Hey, don't worry, Thorrnn," Sinon said before embracing the teen in a comforting hug. "Marth will be just fine. He won't leave you all alone."

The sniper always seemed to know what the greenette was thinking. Thorrnn choked back a sob as she buried her head into Sinon's shoulder while wrapping her arms around her sides. "I can't help it," Emerald Fencer said slowly. "Marth's my only family left. I can't lose him too."

"It's okay," Sinon muttered soothingly as she rubbed circles on her friend's back. "Kirito and Kuroba will ensure nothing happens to him. Plus, they've got us for help too. Everything will be just fine."

Thorrnn didn't respond and just stayed where she was. Sinon then glanced over at Leafa, was facing them with a concerned expression. The sniper gave the blonde Sylph a reassuring nod that she's got this handled, prompting Leafa to continue watching the battle. There was an unspoken agreement between the two of them that one will always be there for Thorrnn when she was in this worried state. This role would largely go to Sinon as she knew what it was like to lose family due to tragedy, but even then Leafa would try her hardest to support her dear friend.

_"For both our sakes, I hope nothing bad happens to Marth,"_ Leafa said to herself. _"There's no way Thorrnn would be able to handle it, even with our help."_

The Emerald Fairy then turned her focus back on her brother's battle with Seiji. Neither one had taken to the sky nor were using Incarnation. Seiji attempted to ensnare the dual-wielder with his tentacle arm, only for Kirito to cut them to ribbons with his swords. Seiji then retaliated by firing another blast from his flamethrower. Rather than dodge or use the Spinning Shield skill to block the attack, Kirito instead chose to summon a small black void, which managed to absorb the scorching flames. It was the Dark Magic spell, Null Void. It was a medium level spell that absorbed all magic spells in its area of effect, which depended on the skill of the caster, for about 10 seconds. Such a spell seemed overpowered, but it did take a long time to prepare as the incantation for it was exceptionally long, with it containing around 30 words, which were all very complex and difficult to say. Not to mention that said spell also requires a large amount of mana to even cast, and that there were some spells it couldn't even absorb like the Unison Spells and some high-level spells, making it a very situational spell.

Kirito wasn't particularly skilled at magic, though that is largely because of his reliance on his sword skills to win his fights. He only began learning Dark Magic at the insistence of Leafa and Marth, and even then, he didn't start taking it seriously until the Demon War. Once their memories began to return back in September, Kirito started to resume his Dark Magic training and has since grown very competent at it. He could even perform some of the high-level spells without saying the incantation, though Null Void was an obvious exception. That spell was practically impossible to fully master.

"You can do it, Kazuto," Leafa muttered to herself. "I know you can defeat Seiji and end his blackmailing days for good."

Meanwhile Kuroba was holding her own against the mysterious tile avatar that was Black Vise. Vise was keeping his distance from her while constantly throwing black panels at her from his right shoulder. Barely any of them managed to hit their mark as most were cut to pieces by the Black King's four swords. The entire time this was happening, a gray aura was coiling about Vise's shoulder. Earlier today, Kuroba had gone into a little more detail about the Incarnate System and told her Legion members that a continuous light-emitting phenomenon, otherwise known as Overlay, was proof that the Incarnate System was being used. In other words, these panels were the avatar's Incarnate attack. This was actually a good thing as that allowed Kuroba to finally unleash her full power. Now that her friends are aware of the Incarnate System, the only thing stopping her from using it is the unspoken rule of using it _only_ when being attacked by another Incarnate attack.

The Black King pulled her right sword arm back, which began glowing with a purple light from the tip to the elbow. It was none other than her Death By Piercing special move. Normally this lunging skill's range was only 5 meters, similar to the one-hit skill, Vorpal Strike, a skill that she learned from the boy she loved. However, just like him, she can use the Incarnate System to boost its range by ten times that.

"Death By Piercing!"

She thrusted her right arm sword forward, plunging it into the first panel. But that wasn't where the attack ended. A blade of purple light shot out from her sword, piercing through the other black panels. The mental image in Kuroba's mind was the desire to strike her opponent from so far away and was exactly what was happening.

"Whoops. Now this, this is an issue." She heard the gentle voice. Followed by, "Static Pressure."

That was an attack name call.

Abruptly, the remaining panels began rumbling. What was previously mere millimeters thick, the panels grew wider before her eyes. Five centimeters, then ten centimeters, until at some point they were more appropriately referred to as lumps rather than panels. The change in size caught the Black King off-guard, weakening her mental image, which rendered her Death By Piercing attack unable to continue its path towards the layered avatar.

"Damn it," she cursed under breath as she was forced to end her Incarnate attack. It wouldn't take her very long to recreate the mental image she needed to try again, but that didn't dismiss her frustration at the moment. Such frustration quickly passed through Kuroba as she took on a fighting stance.

Two massive rectangular solids, black as the night sky itself, crashed into the Black King with a pressure that rivaled Gandora's attacks.

"Hngh!" Kuroba groaned as she used her arm swords to hold the squares back, both blades screeching in protest. It was times like this she was glad her resonance with Marth increased the durability of her swords. If that wasn't the case, the only way Kuroba could ensure that her swords wouldn't break from the strain was to use her Mode Green ability.

"Lotus!" Asuna shouted in worry.

Kuroba couldn't afford to turn around, but she cried out, "I'm fine! Don't worry about me. This guy's going to learn what happens when you cross a King."

"You sure are confidant, Black Lotus," Vise said emotionlessly. "Or should I address you as Kuroba Yukiko?"

"What? Gah!" Lotus said in surprise before finding herself struggling to keep the squares back, which were inching ever closer to her. It was getting more painful by the second.

So they know her real name too. It made sense since Arcanos and his forces knew it, so it's possible that Vise's organization learned it from them. But there was also the possibility that they learned it from another source, but that was extremely unlikely.

It's highly possible Vise may launch another panel at the Black King while she was rendered immobile, which meant she needed to break free immediately. If the circumstances were different, Marth and Kirito would destroy the squares trapping her themselves, but they were both locked into their own battles. She could order Asuna and the others to destroy them too, but it would be risky as she doesn't know the extent of this avatar's abilities or if there were any other enemies lurking in the shadows.

Thanks to the conflict of their imagination output, Kuroba could sense what was unfolding within the layered avatar. It was darkness, but not the gentle kind she'd associate with Marth, her beloved protégé and partner, nor was it the starving emptiness that threatened to devour everything like Seiji's Incarnation. Instead it was a rejection of all interference and had no energy; thus, it gave none and took none. No, it wasn't even an active refusal. It was isolation. It was an absolute alienation, a state that seemed impossible for a human heart.

"You know, you could just give up," Black Vise offered. "I was only hired to keep you from interfering. I've got no interest in fighting you. If you agree to stand down, this will all stop."

Kuroba simply lowered her head, her jaws clenched tightly together. So this person is just as selfish as Seiji. That isn't too surprising, but it still infuriated her, nonetheless. Whatever this organization is, none of them have the right to call themselves Burst Linkers.

"Tch," Dark Cerberus muttered to himself in frustration from her inactivity as he watched from behind a pillar. "Are you gonna fight back or not, Black Lotus? You're disgracing the title of King by just standing there doing nothing."

As she continued to struggle against the black squares that were pressing down on her, the Black King looked over her shoulder and saw her two partners still in battle with their opponents. Kirito and Seiji had taken their battle to the air, with Seiji abandoning his Enhanced Armaments and was now using his Incarnate attack, which the group had dubbed Nihilistic Fluctuation, with both of them clashing at high-speed. Somehow Excalibur was able to resist the deletion the shadowy attack caused. If the Holy Sword is like the one from the Arthurian legend it is based on, it is a sword of light that forged by the ancient Fae from a bygone era. It also had another name, actually it was more like a title, the Sword of Promised Victory. According to legend, anyone who wields Excalibur and possesses its scabbard, Avalon, would be invincible. Obviously, Kirito didn't own the scabbard as such a thing would be outright broken in a VRMMO, but maybe the holy power contained within that sword would be enough to repel the void that was Seiji's Incarnate attack.

Marth, on the other hand, was still fighting Lisbeth on the ground. He had switched to his SAO form, likely to better reach the mace-wielder, and to give him the mental strength he needed to win. After all, survival is the embodiment of the Dark Swordsman. It is a persona of Marth that couldn't afford to lose, otherwise he would lose everything he held dear. However, even with that mental image, Lisbeth was still holding her own against the Blade Eater. Kuroba never recalled the former Alfheim Warriors saying that the blacksmith was this strong, which meant she only acquired this power recently and likely did so she could fight Marth in a head-to-head battle. But that didn't matter. Kuroba believed in her boyfriend and knew he'll be fine. It will take more than what Lisbeth has for him to fall.

_"Both Kirito and Marth are giving it their all in this fight,"_ Kuroba thought. _"If I can't do the same, then I have no right to be their other partner. I'll cut down anyone who opposes us! No exceptions!"_

Suddenly a golden aura flared to life around the Black King as her eyes became a storm gray. Her shadow, which was created from the light of her aura, briefly had the wings of her customized Black Swallowtail Butterfly avatar before it vanished. It was something that only Rias noticed, despite the distance between them.

_"Has Kuroba tapped into the power in her blood?"_ Rias questioned before shaking her head. _"No, she doesn't know how to, plus her blood hasn't fully awakened yet. This power is the result of her bond with Marth and Kirito. Very impressive."_

The demoness was planning to go to Kuroba's aid but now it looks like things are turning around for the Black King. However, Rias did not relax and continued monitoring the battle closely. While she wasn't particularly worried about any surprise attacks against her son, that wasn't the case for the girl she viewed as a daughter, Thorrnn, who had since calmed down and separated from Sinon, who was still next to her as a precaution. There was a good chance that either she or any of the observing Nega Nebulus members will be targeted by a surprise attack in order to distract the ones that were fighting. But the demon lord will ensure that such an attack will never hit its mark. She won't stand idle ever again.

"What are you doing?!" Black Vise exclaimed, his voice sounding surprised, finally breaking the monotone he has been using throughout the battle.

"Haaaah!" Kuroba spun around, slashing the squares as she did so, severing them with ease. She had just performed the AoE Dual Blades skill, Double Circular. While Kuroba still hadn't begun her Dual Blades training, she had seen Marth and Kirito use the Double Circular technique multiple times, so she knew the movements of it by heart. What she did was more of an imitation of the skill as her swords did not have the blue light effect that would normally be present had the AoE skill truly been activated.

Her gold aura then died down, but her eyes kept their stormy gray color. She faced Black Vise with a serious expression on her face and pulled her right arm sword back as far it would go.

"Vorpal Strike," she said firmly as her sword gained the familiar bloodred light effect. She was still too far away to strike Vise directly, but that hardly mattered if she used Incarnation. Last time her surprise weakened her mental image, therefore weakening her Incarnate attack, but now the image was unwavering. It will not be swayed again.

Black Vise must have realized what she was planning to do as he arranged dozens of thick panels, one in front of the other, as a barrier.

"That won't work," Kuroba cried out. She was Black Lotus, an avatar that embodied absolute severing. She'll cut through those panels like a hot knife through butter. She thrusted her right sword forward, launching the crimson blade at her target. The blade of light struck the first panel and tore through it with ease. It did the same with the other panels before finally striking Vise in his left arm, severing it near the shoulder.

"You actually managed to hurt me," Black Vise said, his voice returning to its calm monotone as his arm regenerated. "I guess I should have expected as much from a King."

"You made the mistake of underestimating me," Kuroba replied. "Now why don't you tell me more about this group you and Taker are a part of."

Black Vise was silent for a few moments before finally breaking it. "We are members of the group known as the Acceleration Research Society," he brought his right arm to his chest and bent at the waist to bow, "And I am its vice-president. Please to make your acquaintance."

"Hmph, not a Legion but a 'group', hmm? Quite elaborate, no?"

"Apologies. Society policy."

It was clear she wasn't going to get much more out of the layered avatar, but at least she got the name of this group he's a part of.

_"Now all that's left is to beat him and get the rest of my questions answered."_

Kuroba charged at Vise once more, who proceeded to hurl more black panels at her, but she cut through them with ease as she continued her advance. However, she failed to notice that some panels had snuck passed her before splitting towards two targets. One was a certain greenette and the other was a swordsman dressed in a black leather coat.

In the meantime, Kirito was locked in a stalemate with Seiji. Excalibur was holding its own against the dusk avatar's Incarnation, just like he expected it would. Just like the Demonic Sword Gram wielded by General Eugene of the Salamanders in ALO, Excalibur had a unique ability. It was called Sacred Light, which powered up Kirito's sword skills and gave them the Divine attribute, which has no weaknesses. However, Kirito couldn't help but feel that there was more to the Holy Sword's ability than just that. But that can be saved for another day.

"So, did you ever give that technique of yours a name?" Kirito asked calmly.

"Haa!" Seiji responded with a laugh like a long sigh. "I do not give names to my techniques! I'm told that, without a name, it takes a moment longer to activate, but I'll have no part of that sort of gamer business! And really…" the two opponents backed off of each other, allowing Seiji to throw his arms out to the sides as they simply hovered in the night sky. The pulsing light left hazy lines lingering in space. "Is there any point in asking something like that when you're about to lose Brain Burst?"

Kirito simply chuckled. "That's cute. You still think you can win against me. The reason I asked is that I want to remember the opponent for whom I performed last rites," he returned coolly. He suddenly held out his right hand and held up three fingers. "You've got three minutes to take me down. If you fail to defeat me within the designated timeframe, then I'll end this once and for all."

Seiji let out a mad cackle. "Hahahaha! You sure are bold to make a statement like that! I'll pummel you in half that time."

The Black Swordsman maintained his smirk and readied his swords. "Then by all means, prove it."

"I shall. And I'll even amuse you by making this a sword fight."

Seiji took a standard ready posture with his hands seemingly grabbing something in front of him. Suddenly the fluctuation slithered out and took on the form of a long sword.

_"So he can change the shape of his Incarnate attack,"_ Kirito thought to himself. _"Interesting."_

The two opponents flew at each once more, their clashes echoing in the air.

Back on the ground, both Marth and Lisbeth were locked in a fierce battle. Sparks danced in the air as their weapons clashed and explosions rang as their lightning attacks canceled each other out. The Dark Swordsman unleashed Vorpal Strike with Lunara, aiming for Lisbeth's chest. As expected, the traitor blocked it with her shield, however, the momentum of the sword skill caused Marth to slide passed her.

Lisbeth attempted to strike Marth in the back while he was locked in his post-motion delay with one of her mace skills, only for her eyes to widen in shock as Marth suddenly turned around, his left sword glowing blue as he blocked her attack with the two hit skill, Savage Fulcrum.

"Tch. I forgot about that Skill Connect exploit of yours," Lisbeth said in annoyance. "You really are a cheater through and through."

"Someone's a sore loser," Marth retorted calmly. "It's just a simple exploit. Besides, you know it's not easy to do. Kirito and I are only able to do it so well because of how much we practiced it."

"Whatever," Lisbeth replied. "You're going to pay for Celina's death! I'll make sure of that."

"Celina wouldn't want you to do this, Liz. She'd want you to move on. Stand down and let's talk about this."

"Not a chance! Thirty years ago, I swore I'd avenge Celina and I intend to keep it. The only way you'll stop me is if you kill me, but do you have the guts to do that?"

Marth found himself hesitating again. While there was still no guarantee that if Lisbeth's HP reached zero in this world that it would kill her in real life, it was still something he needed to consider. Could he bring himself to kill another person, one who is a former friend?

He wasn't able to answer that question as he suddenly sensed an attack coming at him from the right. He quickly jumped back, narrowly avoiding a collision with a black panel that ended up crashing into the wall. Marth didn't have a chance to process what just happened as he sensed another attack coming from the same direction, this moving even faster than the first one.

Thanks to his impossible reaction time, Marth was able to block the second panel with Lunara however, the first panel managed to pull itself out of the wall it had embedded itself in and charged at the swordsman again. Unable to move in time to dodge it, Marth was forced to block it with Solaris, effectively leaving him pinned.

"What the hell," Marth said through clenched teeth as he struggled to repel the black panels. "Where did these come from?"

"Aaahhh!" Thorrnn cried out in pain.

Marth glanced over at his sister and with widened eyes he saw that she was being pinned down by several black panels while other panels were keeping the other observing Nega Nebulus members from reaching her to help.

"Thorrnn!" Marth shouted in worry. He tried to knock back the panels holding him down so he could go to her, only for a black lightning bolt to strike him, halting him in his tracks. "Gaahh!" he exclaimed.

"I don't think so," Lisbeth said smugly. "You're not going anywhere!"

Both Kuroba and Kirito also heard the greenette's scream.

"Why you?!" Kirito said in anger. "Leave Thorrnn out of this! She's got nothing to do with this!"

Seiji simply cackled in amusement. "Good work, Vise! Now they'll lose the motivation to fight. If you all agree to be my dogs, then Furuta's torturing ends. Oh but that excludes you, Kirigaya. You'll need to forfeit the duel and lose Brain Burst forever."

"You bastard!" Klein shouted in outrage as he and Agil were trapped by black panels. "Leave her alone!"

Marth, despite feeling constant pain from Lisbeth's attack and from the pressure of the panels pushing down at him, gritted his teeth so hard it hurt. "You cowards!" he declared. A black aura began to surround him while his eyes turned bloodred.

The aura in question caught the mysterious girl's attention. "Hmm, so he's the one you were telling me about?" She then cracked a light smile. "Now I'm intrigued. How will he get out of this?"

Suddenly a familiar voice cried out, "That's enough!"

Black and red lightning suddenly came down from the sky, destroying all the panels that were targeting the observing Black Legion members and freeing Thorrnn, who had promptly collapsed. Lisbeth even stopped her spell out of pure shock.

"Who did that?!" Seiji called out.

A red magic circle appeared next to the greenette before Rias materialized from it. She knelt down beside the teen and cradled her in her arms.

"Who…are you?" Thorrnn struggled to say. Her body was still reeling from Vise's cowardly attack that it was hard to think, much less speak.

"It's okay," Rias said soothingly. "I won't let any harm come to you, Meg. I promise."

The very action caused Marth to forget his anger, causing his aura to fade and his return to their usual blue. "That voice? Can it be?"

Rias sent a death glare at Seiji, causing the freshman to flinch. Even he could tell that she was someone not to cross.

"You are lowest human I've ever seen," Rias said coldly. "To torture my son's friends just to get what you want. You've just condemned yourself to a life of eternal torment!"

"Son?" Kuroba questioned in a stunned look. "No way. It's Rias. But why's she here?"

"I don't know," Kirito replied. "But I'm not complaining. It looks like she's on our side after all." He then called out, "Hey, Mrs. Hagino, can you protect Thorrnn and the others?"

"Of course. That's why I'm here. All I ask is that you make that boy suffer for what he did."

"I can handle that!" a new voice spoke up.

A black blur rushed at Black Vise, slamming the layered avatar into the ground.

"Now who's attacking us?!" Seiji exclaimed.

Kuroba stared wide-eyed at the figure before her. It was a male duel avatar with a muscular build. It had black armor that resembled a kimono with green outlines and a helmet that resembled a dog with green eye lenses. He also had long spikey gray hair and a black tail.

"Who are you?" Kuroba demanded.

"You may call me Dark Cerberus," the avatar replied. "Normally I wouldn't help _you_ out after what you did to my friend, but these guys have angered me with that cowardly attack. I'll take it from here. You just stand back and watch."

Kuroba still found herself feeling confused, but she could tell that this person was here to help. She simply nodded and hurried towards her boyfriend, who was still pinned by Vise's panels.

As she did so, Dark Cerberus turned to face the layered avatar, who was picking himself up. Cerberus popped his knuckles as he glared fiercely at his opponent. "So you think it's cool to take people hostage during a battle? I'll make you regret that _dearly_!" He then ran at the black avatar, punching and kicking through multiple panels as if they were nothing.

"Hold on, Marth!" Kuroba called out as she ran to her protégé. "I'm coming!"

Suddenly Lisbeth intercepted her, holding the Black King's swords back with her mace. "I won't let you! Your boyfriend's gotta pay for what he did to my best friend!"

Kuroba let out a growl in anger. "I don't care about your stupid vendetta. I won't let you hurt Marth!"

"Suit yourself. If you choose to side with him, then I'll take you down too, Dawn Remnant!"

Marth, on the other hand, was sick of being pinned down. Luckily, Dark Cerberus was strong enough that Black Vise needed to focus most of his concentration on fighting him so the pressure from the panels was weaker than ever. If the Blade Eater got enough vertical thrust, he might be able to break free, and it just so happens that he has the perfect tool. The Enhanced Armament that Sky Raker gave him.

"Equip, Gale Thruster!"

Two streaks of sky-blue light streamed from the sky before colliding with Marth's back. The light then produced streamlined boosters about 80 centimeters long and 10 centimeters wide. The tips of the square thrust openings tapered slightly, and on the ends, there was a total of four small stabilizers around them, two horizontal and two vertical. They weren't actually boosters, instead they were more like having two small cruise missiles strapped to your back.

Kuroba let out a gasp. "It can't be. Gale Thruster?!"

"Raaaa!" Marth howled as the Enhanced Armament flared to life. He kicked off of the ground with all his might and soon found himself shooting up into the sky at much faster speed than his wings could ever give him, leaving everyone, except Kirito, speechless.

"When did Marth get that thing?!" Klein shouted in shock.

The Dark Swordsman descended back to the ground, landing right next to his Legion Master. He had the biggest smirk on his face. "A friend lent it to me," he answered simply.

The Black King stared at her boyfriend in amazement. "Marth, do you mean you've met…"

"Yeah, Kirito and I met Sky Raker. She's the one who taught us about the Incarnate System."

Hearing the avatar name of her dear friend and former Legion member struck a chord in Kuroba's heart. After this battle was over, Marth and Kirito had a lot of explaining to do.

"Well this is certainly interesting," a new voice spoke up. "I take it anyone can join in now. If that's the case, I would be interested to participate."

Everyone looked up and saw none other than a certain male red-haired demon descending from the sky with bat-like wings on his back. He was dressed in a silver coat with gold trimming, black gloves and pants, as well as silver boots. He also had a long-curved sword strapped to his back.

"Arcanos," Rias said bitterly as she glared at her fellow demon lord. "What are you doing here?"

The male demon lord kept a smug expression as he landed in the courtyard. "I heard from Lisbeth that you all were planning a little battle here in the Unlimited Neutral Field, so I thought I'd come and watch," he explained. "However, after watching such intense battles side-by-side, I find myself feeling eager to participate. So is there room in this battle royal for one more?"

"If you want a fight, I'll give you one," Rias said firmly as she stood up, only for Marth to get in front of her.

"I've got this, Mom," he said simply. "I need you to look after Thorrnn and the others. Can you do that?"

Rias felt hesitant to let her son fight against a demon lord. While she knew that Marth had defeated Zarc three times, the first two was when Zarc wasn't at full power and the third was only by chance and came at a great cost. Regardless, she also knew that she couldn't talk him out of it.

"Very well," she said reluctantly. "Be careful, Marth. Arcanos is a demon lord. His power nearly rivals Zarc's."

"I'll be fine. After this though, we're gonna need to talk."

The demoness couldn't help but find herself chuckling. "I'll make you a deal. Survive, and I'll tell you anything you want to know."

Marth cracked a smirk. "I like the sound of that." He then made his way over to the male demon, who had drawn his own weapon.

"So you'll be my opponent? Good," Arcanos said smugly. "I've always wanted to fight a Twilight Remnant." He took on a fighting stance, his wings still out. "Let's see how you stack up to Zane's legacy, Dark Swordsman."

"With pleasure." Marth, with Gale Thruster still equipped, summoned his own wings. However, what appeared on his back were not Spriggan wings, instead what appeared were two sets of black, more futuristic wings that were bigger and more powerful than ever before.

"Interesting. That Enhanced Armament merged with your aviation ability," Arcanos commented. "Very interesting. Shall we begin?"

"Yeah," Marth said firmly.

The two swordsmen charged at each other, using their wings to boost their speed before clashing fiercely. They engaged in a fierce dance of sword clashes at speeds that were beyond normal. It was almost like watching two blurs fighting each other.

"This is almost like a battle between two Kings," Asuna commented in awe.

"Yeah," Sinon added. "I knew Marth was fast, but not this fast. Those wings must be augmenting his speed."

Kirito simply smirked before turning to face Seiji, both of whom were back on the ground, while Kuroba began engaging Lisbeth to keep the pinkette from interfering with her protégé's duel. Cerberus, on the other hand, had summoned his Oblivion Blade and was wiping the floor with Black Vise, who could barely defend himself from such an onslaught.

"Well then Seiji," Kirito said as he morphed into his SAO form, while his swords remained the same. "It's been longer than three minutes, which means its time to end this."

Dusk Taker took a step back. How could his plan have gone so terribly wrong? Sure with Arcanos here, there was still the possibility of victory, but that Rias woman looked to be just as powerful as the demon.

"Hold it!" Seiji pleaded desperately as Kirito began marching over to him. "It's not my fault I'm this way. My older brother had made me his dog and forced me to give him my burst points. I got back at him once I got Demonic Commandeer, stole all his powers and burst points. If you need to be mad at someone, be mad at him."

"Do you really think that excuses you for everything that you did?!" Kirito retorted, his eyes growing cold. "You tormented my sister and countless other Burst Linkers. I don't care what happened to you back then. It's time you learn what happens to bullies like you."

Seiji gritted his teeth. "I won't lose to you, Kirito!" he charged at the Black Swordsman again, however his attacks were very erratic, making them super easy for Kirito to block.

Kirito then delivered a single vertical slash across Seiji's waist with Excalibur, cutting the dusk avatar in two, with both halves falling to the ground. The dual wielder planted his right sword into the ground before placing his now empty hand on his opponent's chest.

"Shadow Restoration!" he cried out.

A shadowy aura surrounded the two, leaving Seiji puzzled. "What are you doing? Wait… what's happening to my wings?!"

True to his word, Seiji's wings were vanishing, melting into the very shadows that surrounded him. When the demonic wings fully disappeared, the shadows that surrounded the duo coalesced around Kirito's right hand. He then stood up as the shadows faded, revealing an orb of green light in his palm.

"Sugu, I think this belongs to you!" the Black Swordsman declared.

The orb in his hand soared towards his sister, colliding with her chest and engulfing her body in green light. When the light faded, she had the biggest smile on her face. "Thanks, Kazuto!" she cried out in joy. Her wings have finally been returned to her.

The other battles were wrapping up too, with Black Vise's body badly damaged while Dark Cerberus hardly had a scratch; Kuroba was largely unharmed, but Lisbeth's equipment was nearly in pieces because of the Black Kings swords; meanwhile both Marth and Arcanos hardly had any injuries on them and neither one looked the least bit tired.

"Screw this," Seiji said coldly. "I'm leaving. I'll spread all of your real identities and let someone else finish you off. I'm going to transfer schools and build my own kingdom. Vise, get me out of here!"

Kirito jerked his head towards the layered avatar, who was kneeling on the ground, with Cerberus looming over him.

"Such fury you possess," Black Vise said slowly. "They were right when they say you are just as strong as the Seven Kings. Sorry Taker, but I'm afraid that given the situation and all the damage I took from Cerberus, I won't be able to grant that request."

"Well put more effort into it! If I'm gone and I'm the main force, then the Research Society itself is in a bit of a spot, isn't it? The BIC information might even get leaked."

"Not exactly," Arcanos spoke up. "Your powers were definitely useful, but they aren't required for anything. We have plenty of heavy hitters that can take your place, whatever that was. As for your BIC, Vise, am I correct in saying that it will automatically deactivate the very instant they detect the user losing Brain Burst?"

"You are correct, sir," Vise confirmed. "The BIC will also dissolve into the cerebrospinal fluid and disappear, so tracing us is impossible. While we do have ways to grant non-acceleration users access to this world, I don't see the need in going that length for you, Taker."

Arcanos then teleported beside the layered avatar. "I agree, Vise," the male demon added. "Your comrade clearly bit off way more than he can chew, plus he revealed himself to our enemy. I was planning on dealing with him later so that we can keep ourselves hidden, but this works too. Lisbeth, time to go."

The pinkette obeyed and marched over to her master, ignoring the protests of her former friends. "You guys got lucky today," she said coldly. "Next time we meet, things will be different."

"Wait, Liz!" Asuna pleaded desperately. "Please don't do this!"

Lisbeth didn't answer and instead allowed Arcanos to teleport her and Black Vise away, likely out of the Accelerated World.

Meanwhile, the mysterious girl simply smirked. "That Marth sure is an interesting person. I wouldn't mind keeping a close eye on him. Maybe you do have a point after all." She then walked off and disappeared into the night.

"Well then," Dark Cerberus said as he, Kuroba, and Marth met Kirito in the center as the Black Swordsman stood before Seiji. "I take it you can handle the rest, Black Swordsman?"

"Yeah," Kirito said simply. "Thanks for your help."

"This doesn't mean we're friends. I only interfered because this brat and his allies have no sense in honor." Cerberus sent a glare at Kuroba. "You better watch yourself, Black Lotus. I'm coming for you next. You're going to pay for what you did to my friend, Red Rider!"

Kuroba let out a gasp. "Red Rider? You mean you're…"

Dark Cerberus didn't answer as he snapped his fingers to summon his Gates of Hell, which appeared directly behind him. He then walked through the gate, disappearing into its darkness before the gate itself vanished.

"Now then," Kuroba spoke up. "Shall we finish this and go home?"

Both Marth and Kirito nodded. "Yeah," Graphite Edge said as he switched Excalibur over to his right hand. "Let's put an end to this."

As soon as the trio set their sights on Dusk Taker, he began to scream, "S-stop! Okay! From now on, I'll pay tribute in points to you guys! That's not a bad deal, right?! I'll even join your Legion!"

"The Black Legion will never accept someone like you into its ranks, Seiji," Kuroba said coldly.

"Stop! No! I don't want to lose it! My power! My acceleration! No!"

"Yup. Just like Sugou," Marth said slowly. "Take his power and he becomes a sniveling coward." He glanced over at Kirito. "Do you want the honor, or should I do it?"

"Nah, I've got this," Kirito said. He bent down and grabbed Seiji by the neck before lifting him to eye level.

"No! Please!" Seiji kept pleading, but Kirito ignored him.

With a cold face, Kirito tossed Dusk Taker's top half into the air and as the half came down, he ran Excalibur through Seiji's head, finishing him off. A pillar of reddish-purple flames then shot up into the sky from the avatar's body. From inside the flames, countless ribbons of light were released into the sky, only to melt into the air and disappear. The ribbons were woven from detailed digital code. It was a phenomenon that accompanied the final annihilation of a Burst Linker.

Dusk Taker, the acceleration user that had threatened Kirito and his friends for the past week, was gone from the Acceleration World forever, never to return.

**To be continued**

* * *

**And so Dusk Taker is no more. I'm honestly surprised at how long this arc was. It was kinda difficult to plan out because of how different Kirito and Marth are from Haruyuki so some things from the actual canon just wouldn't work without causing the characters to be out of character. I'm kinda glad this arc is almost over. Just one more chapter left and we can finally move on to the next one. See you guys next time.**

**Shadow Restoration- A high level Dark Magic spell that allows Kirito to reclaim an ability that was lost and return it to its original owner. It requires the special-move gauge to be fully charged in order to activate and can only be done from up close. It is the special move Kirito used to restore Leafa's wings.**


	30. Truths and Revelations

**April 20th, 2057- That Afternoon**

Frank and the rest of the Black Legion had gathered at Dicey Café, which Andrew had closed for the private party, partially to celebrate Seiji's defeat, and partially to get an explanation from Rias without worrying about being overheard by passerby. Speaking of Seiji, he had undergone a complete personality change after losing Brain Burst as he was actually being nice now. This was most likely because of his bad memories of his abusive brother that were tied with the mysterious program disappearing that caused the former acceleration user to go through such a change. For some reason, Seiji also lost his memories of Frank's identity as the Dark Swordsman, as well as the identities of the other former Alfheim Warriors, but it turns out that was Rias's doing as she is not taking any chances of that information getting leaked.

Despite having suspected Rias's true heritage thanks to Kazuto, it was still quite a shock to the Blade Eater that his adopted mother is actually a demon. Frank had always sensed something off about the older woman, even when he was young, but it never came off as threatening to him. Instead she ended up being like a second mother to him, always supporting and looking after him. That made Frank hesitate as he was initially worried that Rias would be like the other demons, thus making her an enemy, and wouldn't bring himself to fight her. Luckily, that isn't the case as the demoness promised that she was on his side. Granted she could be lying as demons in mythology are known to be liars and manipulators, but there was an honesty to Rias's words that made Frank push aside those stories.

The entire Nega Nebulus was gathered around a big table in the center of the café, with Rias sitting at the far end. Frank and Meg were sitting next to her, along with Kuroba and Kazuto. Rias had also put up a magic seal on the café to prevent eavesdroppers from listening in.

"I still can't believe Lisbeth is our enemy," Ayano said in sorrow, as she thought about the pinkette. "It just doesn't make any sense. There's no way she'd join the same beings who attacked Tokyo thirty years ago."

"Grief can change people," Andrew spoke up. "Liz took Celina's death pretty hard. Her desire for revenge is warping her judgement."

"Yeah, on Marth, who had nothing to do with Celina dying!" Klein said in outrage. He slammed his right fist into the table. "Marth and Kirito ordered them to stay behind to defend Tokyo with the rest of the United Forces, while the rest of us attacked Zarc's Shadow Fortress to end the war. Celina was killed by one of Zarc's attacks from Dark Siren, not Marth's Siren. Plus she died protecting Lisbeth. Talk about dishonoring someone's sacrifice."

"That may be true, Klein," Sinon replied slowly. "But it was Marth fusing with Fenrir's Core Crystal that was the catalyst for the Demon War even starting. So, in a way, Marth did cause Celina's death, even though it was never his intention."

Both Frank and Rias looked hesitant for a few moments, albeit for different reasons.

Eventually Kazuto cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Ah-hem. We'll discuss what to do about Lisbeth later," he said firmly. "Right now, let's focus on another matter, one we can get answers too easily." He turned his head to Rias. "Miss Hagino, tell us your story."

"Straight to the point, I see," the demoness commented. "You haven't changed, Kazuto, even after so many years. Very well, but my story is a long one and is connected to several people here. Once you hear this story, things might end up changing drastically for all of you."

"We can deal with that," Kuroba voiced. "Right now, we need answers, and you're our best shot at giving them. What are Twilight and Dawn Remnants? Why do they seem so important?"

Rias glanced at the Black King with an inquisitive look. "I'll tell you, but first I must establish who I am. As you know, Rias Hagino is not my real name. I am actually Rias Morningstar, one of the six demon lords. I was also one of the few demons who survived Zarc's revolt where he killed our king and cast our people's lot with Zeta, the God of Darkness during the War of Darkness, a war that took place near the beginning of time itself." As she spoke the man's name, her hands tightened in anger. She could still picture the screams of innocent demons and their families killed by the radical demons.

Frank's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, Zarc's not actually the Demon King? Then who was?"

"Our king was a man named Teranis Umbris, and he was an honorable person," Rias explained. "Unlike Zarc and Arcanos, who are also demon lords, Teranis actually cared about humans and saw the potential in them. When the Dark God came to our dimension, Eternus, he offered our people a place in his army for his war against all life. Teranis refused. But Zeta was cunning. He persuaded Zarc to kill the king and take the crown for himself. If he did this, Zeta would make him his second-in-command. Zarc didn't even hesitate to accept the offer. During a ceremony to honor our creator, the Shadow Goddess Sinestra, Zarc assassinated Teranis while his forces attacked the capital, killing any who did not share their beliefs. It took everything I had to escape with a handful of survivors."

Everyone was quiet for a few moments, as if in mourning of the loss of life that occurred ages ago.

"Damn, that's messed up," Klein said in shock. "It's hard to believe a demon would kill their own kind like that."

"Did…Teranis have any family?" Suguha asked nervously.

Rias nodded her head. "Yes. A daughter. Her name was Altena. She was the heir to the throne and was the strongest of the six demon lords, as well as my dear friend. She wasn't present during Zarc's usurpation. He planned it to happen during a time where she wouldn't be able to stop him.

"You see, Altena had married Lambert, the King of Arcadia, who was a human. They first met when Lambert was young when he accidently entered Eternus while on trip with his parents. He was immediately attacked the beasts living there and would have died had Altena not appeared and saved him. He was immediately smitten with her and vowed to marry her when he became king. Eventually he became of age to inherit the throne and returned to Eternus to ask Teranis for Altena's hand. They were both amused by the offer, but didn't reject the offer. Teranis agreed to the offer, but only if Lambert was able to overcome several difficult trials, ranging from killing powerful dark beasts by himself or by helping the people of Eternus."

The demoness cracked a light smile as she fondly recalled the time the young king had entered the Obsidian Palace. Altena didn't forget who Lambert was, despite their previous encounter being eight years prior. Even then, her old friend was intrigued by his tenacity as he had managed to kill two weaker dark beasts, even at such a young age, before stronger ones threatened to attack. However, back then Rias believed that Lambert was insane for thinking that he could win the affections of the strongest demoness in Eternus.

Naturally, unlike humans, demons were essentially immortal. They age at around the same speed as a human does until, they reach twenty years of age, where their bodies practically stop aging. In fact, not counting the time between the Era of Beginnings and the current era, Rias was around 300 years old, which is actually considered young for her kind. In human standards, she could pass herself as a woman in her late twenties or early thirties.

"Lambert was able to pass all of Teranis's trials," Rias continued. "One of the most important was to earn Altena's trust, as even though she is a caring individual, she rarely opens up to other people about personal issues. Teranis gave Lambert his blessing and the young king returned to his kingdom with his bride-to-be. Naturally there were protests among Lambert's council as even though Altena was royalty, she wasn't human. A being that possesses dark blood. While demons weren't feared for corrupting individuals back then, the humans were very wary of the dark side of life. Despite this, Altena proved that she could be trusted by helping her new people and defending her fiancé's homeland. The two were then married and Altena eventually gave birth to two children, Zane and Lucia."

The Black Legion let out a gasp.

"Wait, did you say Zane?!" Asuna exclaimed in shock. "As in, Marth's other life?!"

"What does that mean for my brother?" Meg questioned. "And who is Lucia?"

Rias was aware that Zarc had given the Alfheim Warriors a brief summary of Zane's history thirty years ago on Temporal Tower in another world when Zarc plotted to use the Dark Swordsman's soul and the soul of the Dawn Remnant of that world to revive his master, Zeta. Now it is the time for her to fill in the blanks.

"Zane was Altena's first child," the demoness explained. "She would later bear Lucia, her daughter, a year and a half later. As for their identities, you all are already aware that Frank, otherwise known as Marth, is Zane's reincarnation, a Twilight Remnant. As for Lucia, her reincarnations are called Dusk Remnants, and her reincarnation is none other than," she glanced over at Meg, "you."

Once again, everyone was shocked by the revelation.

"No way," Kazuto said slowly, his eyes wide in disbelief. "Are you saying that both Frank and Meg are the reincarnations of half-demons?"

"Indeed. Out of the two siblings, Zane was the strongest and came close to rivaling Altena herself. Speaking of Frank and Meg, have you two noticed anything unusual with your blood recently?"

The Storm-Furuta siblings were silent for a few moments. It was natural for them to feel uncomfortable with this as what this could mean could drastically alter their lives.

"Back in Okinawa, I got into a fight with an orc named Blados," Frank explained slowly. He looked down at his hands, which cupped on the wooden table. "He managed to injure me a few times and when he did, I noticed that my blood had black streaks in it."

"I've noticed a similar thing with my blood too," Meg admitted. "The other day I was helping Sugu with dinner when I accidently cut myself with a kitchen knife. It wasn't very deep, but it did draw blood. Blood that has black streaks in it."

Klein shuddered in disgust. "Creepy. But weren't you two born as humans? So shouldn't your blood be fully human too?"

"You are only partially correct, Klein," Rias spoke up. "While Frank and Meg were indeed born human, their souls are not. Instead they are the souls of half-demons. The body is the vessel of the soul and is something the soul can manipulate to suit its needs. The very moment Frank and Meg were born, their souls began to slowly turn their bodies from that of humans, to half-demons. Those black streaks are demon blood and is a sign that the process is complete."

"No way." Meg leaned back in her chair as she processed what she just heard. "So…me and Frank…we're not human anymore?"

"Technically I stopped being human when I merged with Fenrir's Core Crystal," Frank spoke up as he held said crystal with one hand. "But that's not the point. What does this mean?"

"Yes, I'm afraid that you two are no longer considered humans," Rias confirmed slowly, her eyes looking sympathetic. "There are benefits to this transition, but I'll get into that at a later date. However, you are not the only ones here who have gone through such a change."

Kuroba's eyes widened as she recalled seeing her own blood that night in Okinawa. "Are you referring to me?" she questioned the demoness.

"Yes, Kuroba, but you are not a half-demon. You…are a fairy."

* * *

Morgan was sitting on her bed staring at the tiny chrome piece in her hand. While it was too soon to say that this could be her trump card, Chrome Disaster would still prove to be a useful tool for the sorceress. She had already set plans to revive the dark creature and set it loose upon the Accelerated World again, but not without a few enhancements. Only Blados knows she has the armor piece and she intends to keep it that way. If Arcanos or _that girl_ learned about this, they would force Morgan to have the Dark Incarnate creature obey them.

_"I despise them both, especially_ her _,"_ Morgan thought in disgust. _"She may be in charge of the Research Society, but that doesn't mean she's my equal. Just once, I'd love to strike her with one of my strongest spells, but Arcanos will never allow it as her powers have been useful for him."_

The blonde sorceress pocketed the chrome piece into her dress before moving over to her desk, where she summoned the image of Marth dual-wielding from her crystal ball. Unbeknownst to Arcanos, Morgan had learned of the battle between Dusk Taker and Nega Nebulus. She wasn't disheartened to hear of Seiji's defeat, quite the opposite in fact. He was way too egotistical for her liking as there were several times where she almost scorched him with her magic by bragging about his Demonic Commandeer ability. Similar to Arcanos, Morgan was present in the Unlimited Neutral Field for that battle, but unlike him, Morgan actually stayed hidden and stayed to watch Dusk Taker be eliminated by Kirito's Excalibur.

"Marth sure does have powerful allies, including that of Rias Morningstar," she mused to herself. "But does he possess the same tenacity that his previous life, Zane, possessed?" She smirked as she recalled seeing the dark aura that briefly surrounded the Black Wolf player. "He certainly has the same fury, the same anger."

However, Morgan was also aware that things weren't right with the Dark Swordsman. She's known this ever since she snuck into Arcanos's quarters when he wasn't there and stole a drop of the Twilight Remnant's blood. What she found out from analyzing it was both shocking and intriguing. There's no doubt in her mind that Rias will warn Marth of it, but that's all the full-blooded demoness can do.

Suddenly Morgan heard a knock on her door. She quickly dismissed the image of the boy that held her curiosity and turned around. "Come in," she said slowly.

The door opened, revealing none other than Lisbeth. Her armor was now fully repaired, largely because of Morgan's magic, and now that her identity has been revealed to her former friends, chose to discard her mask. Her face was impassive.

"Hello, Morgan," Lisbeth said emotionlessly. "What are you doing?"

Morgan brushed her left hand through her long hair. "Oh nothing," she said innocently. "Just trying to pass the time. Arcanos never lets me leave the base and it gets rather boring here."

Lisbeth scoffed. She could tell that the sorceress was hiding something, but chose not to question it. As long as she got her revenge on Marth, the demon-fairy could do whatever she pleased.

"Arcanos wanted an update on Zarc's location," Lisbeth spoke up. "Have you found him yet?"

"No, but I'm making progress. I'm starting to think we may have been looking in the wrong world this whole time."

The pinkette raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

Morgan simply smirked as she reported her findings to her fellow half-demon.

* * *

"So, I was a fairy in my first life?" Kuroba questioned as she processed it in her head. "My life as Celine?"

Rias nodded her head in confirmation. "Yes. Her mother was Anthiese, their queen. Unlike Zane, however, Celine did not have a human parent. The fairies lived alongside the humans and had their own kingdom, which was called Arun. That kingdom has since become its own dimension now. The fairies were well respected, as was their progenitor, Celestia, the Goddess of Light. Some of the best sorcerers even came from the Kingdom of Arun." She looked the Black King in the eye. "Your, or should I say Celine's, mother was gifted sorceress. The elements and even the very light itself bent to her will. However, Anthiese was also known for her distaste in demons."

"Why's that? Did they do something to her or something?"

"Not exactly. Fairies and demons having disdain towards each other is actually very common. Even though Sinestra and Celestia were sisters, they didn't exactly get along and this was inherited by their children, the demons and the fairies. Though there are children who are born from the union between the two races, however, those children are shunned by both and forced to live as exiles."

"How awful," Ayano muttered. "The children are punished just for being born. Why would anyone think that's okay?"

"That's just how the world worked back then," Rias said simply.

"Speaking of which," Andrew spoke up, his arms folded across his chest. "How long have you been in this world, Rias, at least since after war against Zeta?"

"I was one of the few survivors of the conflict. After Zeta's defeat, I returned to Eternus. I had exhausted much of my power and needed to recuperate. However, there was a promise I needed to keep and to do that, I had to seal myself away so that I could fulfill it. That seal broke during the Demon War, however by then, the war was practically over so I simply wandered across Japan until I finally settled down here in Tokyo about eleven years ago."

"Eleven years?" Frank questioned. "That was around when you and Dad found me in the park."

Rias nodded her head as she smiled warmly. "Yes. While I may have appeared shocked back then, I was actually very relieved that I had found you. Ever since then, I've done my best to protect you."

Kazuto then remembered his conversation with the demoness from yesterday, mainly where she mentioned a promise. "Hey, Mrs.—"

"You can call me, Rias, Kazuto. I don't mind."

The Black Swordsman was taken aback a little, but simply nodded. "Um, Rias… Yesterday you told me you had made a promise to an old friend to protect her son. Was that friend Altena?"

Rias's smile disappeared as she lowered her head. "Yes," she said slowly, sorrow etched in her tone. "When Zeta began his war on humanity, it was when Zane was around five years old. Arcadia was one of Zeta's first targets and it fell overnight. Lambert and thousands of his soldiers sacrificed their lives so that the civilians and his family could escape. Altena wanted to stay and fight, but Lambert refused as she was the only one he could trust to ensure their children's safety. Unfortunately, during the evacuation, Zane and his best friend, Kirito, were separated from Altena, who was forced to abandon them to ensure the safety of her daughter and the civilians in her care. Luckily Scathach, the wielder of lance, Gae Bolg, rescued them and took them under her care.

"But that all is a story for another day. Near the end of the War of Shadows, me, Altena, Zane and his friends fought a major battle against Zeta and his forces on the Tailtein Plains. We suffered many casualties, but we managed to force Zeta to retreat. However, it was on that field where Altena lost her life."

"What?" Frank said in disbelief. "From the way you described her, Altena doesn't look like she could ever fall."

"Even she had her limits. Altena was able to cut down a large part of Zeta's forces by herself before Zarc interfered. Zarc had been empowered by Zeta, if it wasn't for that, there's no way Altena would have lost. Their battle raged on for over an hour before Altena's wounds became too much for her and she finally fell."

Rias cupped her hands tightly as she recalled the memory. Altena, her clothes stained with her black blood, slain by the sword of her father's murderer and usurper. The red-haired demon had become enraged by the sight during that battle and slaughtered any enemy that dared approach her while she made her way to her oldest friend.

"Altena's…last words to me…were to look after her children," Rias choked out as tears leaked from her eyes. "I gave her my word that I would protect them as she died in my arms."

Silence filled the room once more as everyone found themselves at a loss for words.

"Did my, no Celine's, mother, die there too?" Kuroba spoke up after a few minutes. She had no memories of the Fairy Queen, or any memories from her life as Celine, but she still felt concerned.

"No, Anthiese survived that terrible battle. In fact, she's most likely still alive now, ruling Arun."

"I see," Kuroba mused. "I…wouldn't mind meeting her someday." She brought up her open palm and stared at it. "She could probably help me understand my…transition…and coach me through it."

Rias simply smiled. "I'm sure she would be happy to help. Anthiese was very strict, but she cared deeply for Celine. I wish I had a way to contact her but I don't. I can try to help you through it though."

"Can you help me out too, Rias?" Meg added.

"Of course. I would be honored to help." The demoness jerked her head towards her son. "What about you, Frank?"

Frank leaned back in his chair as he held the back of his head in his hands. "Yeah, I could use some pointers. I practically had to figure things out as I went when I became a Blade Eater. It wasn't fun. I'd rather not go through such an experience again."

"Hold on a second," Shino said suddenly, catching everyone's attention. "Earlier you said Zane and Kirito were separated from Altena. Does that mean our Kirito is a Remnant too?"

"I was wondering when someone would ask that," Rias commented. "Yes. Kazuto Kirigaya is a Night Remnant, the reincarnation of Kirito, the Black Swordsman, who fought at Zane's side. Kirito was the son of a noble who was close to the royal family. He was rarely seen apart from Zane. Since their hair colors were so similar, many people believed that they were brothers, and in a way, they were."

"Boy that sounds familiar," Kazuto said a smile as he leaned into the table.

"It sure does," Frank added, also with a grin.

Rias also explained that Asuna is a Flash Remnant, with her previous life sharing the same name as her. She was a noble from another kingdom that Zeta destroyed during the War of Shadows and had joined a resistance army before she eventually joined Zane's group.

Soon Klein looked out the window and noticed that the sun was setting. "Hey it's starting to get late. Why don't we start wrapping this up?"

"That sounds like a good idea," Andrew added with a nod after taking a bite of the meal that Asuna had prepared for the group. "I feel like I'm gonna need a break to process Rias's story."

"It is weird how there's no records of Zane's story," Ayano brought up. "It's kind of sad really."

"That's just the flow of time, Silica," Kazuto replied. "There are countless stories that are lost across the ages. Though if you really look, you can find fragments of the stories, but it's impossible to get the full picture. For Zane's story, the only way we can hear the whole thing is by hearing it from people who were actually there."

"I'm guessing you're referring to me," Rias said with a small grin. "It's not a very happy story, but if you ever want me to tell you it, all you have to do is ask."

There were still somethings that Frank wanted answered but he decided to hold off for now. He and his friends then spent the rest of the meeting eating the last of the food before deciding to go their separate ways.

* * *

**Later**

Frank, Rias, Kuroba, Kazuto and Meg (who had decided to join them because she wanted to hear more about her past life from the demoness), were back in the Hagino apartment. However, right as Frank began walking through the hallway to the living room, his chest suddenly flared with excruciating pain.

"Gaaah!" he cried out as he felt his legs give out.

The pain seemed to be coming from his chest and just like before, it was so intense that he could hardly think. His whole body was fighting against itself.

"Frank!" Kuroba shouted in worry as she knelt beside her boyfriend.

"Brother!" Meg exclaimed as she did the same.

The two girls tried to comfort the ailing boy and it seemed to work as the pain slowly stopped.

The Blade Eater let out several pants as he brought his sweaty palm to his Core Crystal. "That's the second time today this has happened," he said slowly, his body still aching slightly. "What's happening to me?"

Kazuto turned around and noticed that Rias had a pained expression on her face. "You know something, don't you?" he questioned intently. "What are you hiding?!"

"Kazuto!" Meg retorted. "You can't just accuse her like that."

The Black Swordsman sent a glare at the brunette, shutting her up. "Look, Rias clearly knows what's happening to your brother, my best friend. If she knows something, then she needs to tell us."

Kuroba turned her gaze at the red-haired woman, her eyes filled with concern. "Please, tell us what's happening to Frank," she begged. "Something is clearly wrong with him and we need to know how to fix it."

The demoness was silent for a few moments before finally making her way over to the teens. "As you know, Frank is a half-demon and a Blade Eater," Rias explained. "However such a combination is taboo."

"What are you talking about?" the Dark Swordsman questioned.

"Demons were born from darkness and while ether did not exist back then, from watching over you for so long, I can tell that ether, at least in another world, makes up the fabric of reality. Those two sources…don't mix and it's causing your body to deteriorate."

The teens all gasped in shock.

"What?" Meg said in disbelief. "Are you saying that my brother is dying?"

Rias could only nod grimly.

Kazuto gritted his teeth in anger. "But why is this happening now?" he questioned. "Frank's been fine for over eleven years. Why have a problem now?"

"I think I know why," Kuroba said slowly. "Ever since Okinawa, Frank's body has been generating more ether than before. Plus during the battle with Gandora, he had that surge of ether energy that likely came from Fenrir."

"She's right," Rias said in despair. "While I'm sure Fenrir didn't mean any harm with that, he clearly didn't know the damage he would be causing by doing that. The more ether energy Frank uses, the faster the deterioration becomes."

"No way," Meg muttered.

It was such a shock to the brunette. She knew that something was wrong with her brother for days now. She had prayed desperately that it was nothing major, but those prayers had been quashed just like that. Frank, her only family left, was dying from the very power he acquired to help his friends in the world of Alrest.

"Is there a way we can stop it?" Kazuto questioned fiercely. "You're a master sorceress. Surely you can conjure up a cure or something."

Rias simply shook her head. "There isn't a cure. The only way to save Frank is to remove his Core Crystal, but it's a part of his body now. If we remove it, his body shuts down and he dies."

"Damn it!" Kazuto stomped his foot on the hardwood floor. "There's got to be something we can do. I refuse to let Frank die from this."

"Let it go, Kazuto," Frank said softly, catching everyone's attention. He rose to his feet, but kept his head low. "Rias herself said that there's no cure. She doesn't have any reason to lie." He turned his head towards his adopted mother. "How long do I have?"

"It depends on how much ether you use," Rias explained. "Ideally, if you stop using ether forever, you can last about ten years, give or take. However, that's not very likely because of whatever Arcanos is planning. If you keep using ether at the rate you're going now, I'd say about nine months, maybe slightly longer."

"I see," Frank said simply, his bangs covering his eyes.

"We need to tell the others this," Meg added. "They need to know."

"No, this stays between us," Frank said emotionlessly. "Telling them will only cause them to worry and we have enough on our plate already."

"But, Frank," Kazuto voiced. "We can't just keep quiet about this. What if this happens out in public? What then?"

"Then we'll deal with it then. We'll tell them eventually, but now's not a good time."

Kazuto gritted his teeth in frustration. "You're being an idiot, Frank! You're freaking dying and you're choosing to keep it a secret from the others. I thought we were moving passed this."

"Like I said, we'll tell them eventually," Frank said coldly. It reminded the Graphite Edge player of the emotionless tone his friend would talk in when he fully became the Dark Swordsman. "Mom says I have at least nine months, so we'll tell them about this at around July or August."

Kazuto looked ready to say something, only for Rias to grab his shoulder and shake her head. The teen finally relented with an irritated sigh. It was clear the Dark Swordsman had his mind made up.

"Frank, because of your bond with Lunara and Solaris, you can probably summon them without using ether," Rias explained. "However, any other powers will be risky to use, especially the Fenrir Effect. I might know an alternate way for you to access your powers, and that's to awaken your demon blood. While you have fully changed into a half-demon, you don't know how harness your newfound powers. If you can use your demon blood to access your other powers, minus the Fenrir Effect, it could slow the deterioration down."

"Alright," the Blade Eater said slowly. "I'll work that training around Kuroba's Dual Blades training. She should be able to use Sword Skills without using ether." He then turned towards the front door. "I'm going out for a bit."

He didn't wait for anyone to speak up before walking to the front door and exiting the apartment.

"Um, I'm going after him," Kuroba spoke up. "I'm worried about him. Kazuto, do you want to come?"

She turned towards her other partner to see that he was comforting a weeping Meg. It seems that the brunette had been holding it in this entire time. He looked her in the eyes which said, _"I've got this. Go after our partner."_

Kuroba simply nodded before hurrying out the door. Frank was nowhere to be seen, but Kuroba wasn't worried about tracking him down thanks to their resonance. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She found that the Blade Eater was standing on top of a bridge, which was a block away from the apartment building. She didn't question how he got there so fast as physical things like running or strength, doesn't require ether energy as those are tied to regular stamina. The only exception are the Lightspeed Bursts, which do require an immense ether energy for the Blade Eater to access.

The Black King hurried to the elevator to get to the ground floor before hurrying to her boyfriend. It took her less than two minutes to reach the bridge by running, but it felt a lot longer to her. When she arrived, she saw Frank staring at the setting sun, which lit the sky with its orange light.

"Frank," she said slowly, her hand close to her chest.

Without even turning around, Frank said, "I want to be alone, Kuroba."

The half-demon's voice was full of sorrow and pain. It made her heart ache to hear him talk like that.

"I'm not leaving," Kuroba replied calmly. "You're hurting and being alone is the last thing you need. We can fix this—"

"No, we can't!" Frank suddenly shouted, his fist slamming into the metal railing, making a small dent in it. The Black King was taken aback by his raised voice. "You heard what Rias said. There's no cure. I'm doomed if I keep Fenrir's Core and doomed if I remove it. Honestly," Frank lowered his head in despair, "it really does seem like my life is cursed. No matter what I do, I always do something wrong. I pushed my sister away when our birth parents died, I ditched Klein at the Town of Beginnings, I killed five members of Laughing Coffin, I caused the Demon War by merging with this stupid Core Crystal, and now I find out that this thing is slowly killing me. What is wrong with me? Why can't I move on with my life? Why is this world so set on making me suffer?! What did I ever do to deserve this? Tell me!"

Kuroba was stumped on what she could say. She knew it was a fool's errand to believe that they could find a way to save her love's life, it was as if destiny itself was against them. But if that was the case, then destiny could burn in Hell for all she cared. Frank is her first love, and she wants him to be her only love. A world without him, is a world she refused to live in.

"We'll fight it," Kuroba said simply.

"Huh?" Finally Frank turned around, facing her in confusion. His eyes were red from crying as tears stained his face.

"If there's some destiny saying that you have die either by ether poisoning or from your core's removal, then we'll fight it," Kuroba said slowly, her voice slowly gaining more confidence as she spoke. "I'm a fairy now, and Rias herself said that some of the best sorcerers of her time were fairies. I'm sure there's a spell that can save you."

"But—"

"No buts!" Kuroba shouted, tears leaking from her eyes. "You saved me when my life was in danger, now it's my turn to save you! I don't care what Rias said, I refuse to just give up and let you die. I love you, Frank, and I don't want to lose you!"

"Kuroba," Frank said in shock before the girl tackled him into a hug. Her tears left damp spots on his school jacket.

"Not even reaching level 10 and solving the mystery of Brain Burst is more important to me than you," she continued as she held the boy tightly, as if afraid he would vanish if she let go for even a second. "If I had to choose between Brain Burst and you, I would choose you every time. So please, don't give up on yourself, Frank. Please."

The Dark Swordsman was at a loss for words. It was rare to see the Black King in this emotional state. Her words were also a fanciful dream. There was no guarantee that they would even find a cure to save him. And yet, those words echoed throughout his entire being, refusing to die out. Kuroba was right. If it seems like his fate is die by like this, then he'll fight to change it. He's always believed that he chooses his own destiny. Why should this be any different?

"Alright," Frank said as he embraced the girl. Kuroba found herself looking up and seeing a warm smile on her boyfriend's face. "We'll find a cure, together."

Kuroba's eyes widened before smiling, her cheeks tinged with red. "Together," she repeated.

They stayed like that for several minutes before finally separating and watching the sunset together.

"By the way, you looked pretty cool with Fuko's Gale Thruster," Kuroba commented. "When I watched you summon it, my heart skipped a beat."

Frank let out a light chuckle as he scratched his head sheepishly. "I was impressed by the power it had, especially when I combined it with my wings. I don't think I've ever flown that fast before. As much as I wouldn't mind doing that again, Gale Thruster isn't mine to use. It already has a master."

"I see. It's so unexpected that Fuko would be the one to teach you and Kazuto about the Incarnate System."

"Should we have gotten your permission or something?"

"No." Kuroba shook her head gently. "Out of all the high-level burst linkers who have mastered Incarnation, Fuko is probably the one who most believes in the possibilities of that system. And…I have no doubt that I could not be that complete of a demon towards you. No offense."

"None taken," Frank said with a light smile. "She certainly is like a demon. She managed to stop me and Cerberus from fighting each other with just words. She's definitely not someone I want to cross."

"I see she hasn't changed much. So she knows Dark Cerberus?"

"Looks that way. I don't know how close they are or how they met but from what I can tell, she's still loyal to you."

"That's reassuring to hear. I don't know if I could bring myself to fight her. Not after what I did to her."

Kuroba still felt guilty for severing the legs of Sky Raker as Black Lotus. While it was at Raker's request, it did cause the two friends to part ways. If she didn't do it, would she have thrown herself into battle against the other kings?

As day turned to night, the streetlights turning on, Kuroba found herself staring at the starry sky.

"The Incarnate System is extremely enormous," she said slowly. "Thus, it enthralls everyone who touches it. They master the depths of the power, charging forward to make it their own. But, well…this is what I think. If it were a simple program bug, the creators wouldn't have left it in. They would have done something about it. This means that Incarnation isn't an irregular system that was accidently generated but instead a part of Brain Burst's design. Maybe it's a trap to lure us in and draw us into that world."

"I'm not so sure," Frank spoke up.

Kuroba turned to face him, her amber eyes meeting his sapphire-blue eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Years ago, when Kirito and I fought Sugou in Alfheim Online, Brandon Lowell appeared before me, while Kayaba did the same for Kirito. It was thanks to them that we were able to stand up to Sugou. One thing that I'll always remember is that Brandon said that we showed him and Kayaba the power the human will has over the system, how it showed them the possibilities of the future. The Incarnate System may not be a trap at all. Instead it might be based off of those words, to make a person's will manifest and overwrite the system to create miracles. Or I could just be overthinking it."

"No," Kuroba said with a shake of her head. "I don't think you are. Hey, is it possible that Kayaba and Brandon are the ones who created Brain Burst? They were the creators of Sword Art Online and the World Seed, the source of all VRMMOs, after all. I know that they're dead, but you did say that they copied their souls onto the Internet."

"No, it couldn't be them," Frank said simply. "After SAO was cleared, Kayaba and Brandon took a more observation role. They wouldn't create an entirely new world again. Instead they'd probably just watch someone else do it just to see where that person will go with that world. There's no doubt in my mind that they're both still out there, but making a game like Brain Burst doesn't really suit their style."

"I see," Kuroba replied. "By the way, how do you plan on returning Fuko's wings? You did manage to get her contact info, right?"

"Of course, I did. Right after the transfer was made, we exchanged our contact information so that I could message her after we dealt with Seiji. I actually messaged her before we left for Dicey's and scheduled a meeting place and time."

"And when's that?" Kuroba questioned slowly.

Frank checked his peripheral vision and saw that it was 7:15 PM before smiling. "Right about…"

"Good evening, Marth," a new voice spoke up. "Good evening, Kuroba."

The duo turned around, though Kuroba slightly paused before moving. Under the starry night sky, she was there, smiling. Her long, soft hair fluttered in the breeze. The hem of her uniform skirt flickered up, and she held it down with a pale hand. It was none other than Fuko Kurasaki, otherwise known as the level 8 burst linker, Sky Raker and one of the original members of Nega Nebulus.

Kuroba couldn't help but share the same smile as she saw her old friend. "It's been a while, Fuko. About three years in the real world. Was this bridge the meeting point for you two?"

"No, we were going to meet at Frank's apartment. He was planning on having you over so we could see each other again."

The Black King couldn't help but gaze in wonder at the boy, who simply had a mischievous smile on his face.

Fuko was also gazing at Frank, although for slightly different reasons. "Well, shall we do the exchange here then? I brought a spare cable just in case." True to her word, she brought out an XSB cable from her bag.

"Sure," Frank replied. "Thanks for lending your wings to me. They really came in handy."

"I'm glad to hear that."

The two of them inserted the cable into their Neurolinkers and in less than a real world second, made the exchange to return Gale Thruster to its rightful owner. After they returned to the real world, they disconnected the cable.

"I have it now," Fuko said with a smile. "I guess I should get going." She turned to Kuroba and bowed lightly.

After taking two steps, servo motors whining faintly, Fuko moved her lips slightly. "Marth. I know that for you, flying is just another tool in your arsenal but I feel like you will be able to reach heights that I never could. I'll be rooting for you… Good luck." She grinned and turned around, leaving a quick wink in her wake. She walked off with a sure step.

But Frank definitely saw it. A small drop of light spilling from her quickly blinking eyes, tracing out a silver trajectory in the air. Frank turned to Kuroba, who had taken several small steps toward Fuko, but stopped, as if she was trying to endure something.

The Blade Eater simply chuckled as it reminded him of himself not being able to reach out to the Black King to find healing. He gave the black-haired girl a slight nudge on the back, causing her to briefly face him. His eyes said one thing to the girl, _"Go to her. She's waiting."_

Kuroba turned back to the former Nega Nebulus member and cried out, "Fuko!"

The Sky Raker player, who was almost off of the bridge, halted in her tracks.

"Fuko. Please come back. I need you."

Fuko dropped her head deeply. Her left leg started to take another step forward, only to suddenly stop. Almost as if the CPU controlling the artificial leg was fighting against its owner's orders. As if it had a soul and was following its own heart. Bit by small bit, the leg was pulled back.

Ever so slowly, Fuko turned around. She moved her lips and uttered in the faintest voice, "Kuroba." And then a silent question. _Are you sure?_

Kuroba nodded firmly and shouted again, "Fuko!"

The girls began to run toward each other, with Fuko tossing her bag to the side. Kuroba was slightly faster of the two, but Fuko had her arms out to catch her. She embraced the slightly shorter girl with black hair, large tears spilling over her cheeks. The brunette glanced over at Frank with the biggest smile he had ever seen on her. The message was clear. _Thank you._

Frank could only smile back as the two girls released three years' worth of buried emotions onto each other as they sobbed while in each other's arms. The Dark Swordsman then looked up at the night sky and stared directly at the half-moon in the sky.

_"No matter what happens, I'll always protect Kuroba, Fuko and the others,"_ he vowed. _"I'll find a cure for my deterioration so that I can stay here with them. I swear this on my honor as a swordsman."_

For a brief second, Frank could have sworn he heard the sound of a girl giggling. He first turned towards Kuroba and Fuko, but they were still crying their eyes out so the sound couldn't have come from them. He then turned in the other direction and under a streetlight, he saw _her._

She had long light green hair, almost reaching her waist, and piercing gold eyes. She wore a white straitjacket that had multiple unhooked black straps on her arms and legs, as well as long high-heeled boots that went up to her thighs (which were hidden by the jacket itself). The jacket also had a high collar that could shield her mouth. She looked like an ordinary girl, but she had this abnormal presence around her, like she wasn't human, demon or monster.

Her lips moved slightly and somehow, despite the distance, he could hear her clearly. "We'll meet again soon, Marth. I look forward to seeing your _true_ face."

"What?" Frank muttered in bewilderment.

The girl didn't respond. Instead she turned and disappeared into the night.

**To be continued**

* * *

**And so Kuroba and Fuko finally reunite. Sorry that this was mainly just an exposition chapter but there were a lot of things I needed to cover regarding Remnants and Rias's backstory (though there are still things I can expand upon but I'm saving those for later chapters) plus create some setup for the next arc. And with this, the Seiji arc is finally finished and officially has made Black Wolf my longest story yet in terms of word count. The next chapter is one I've been looking forward to for months now. Why that is, you'll have to wait and see. See you guys next time!**


	31. Frank and Fuko's Date?!

**May 5th, 2057**

It has been two weeks since Seiji's defeat and the Black Legion has gone back to living somewhat normal lives. At least, as normal as it can get with the ever-looming threat of Arcanos and the Acceleration Research Society. There hasn't been another incident since Dusk Taker lost the Brain Burst program, but Frank and his friends refused to lower their guard. In fact, the Darkness Duo had recently reached level 6 to power themselves up so they could better protect their friends.

At the moment, Frank, Kazuto, Kuroba, Meg, Rias and Fuko were in the same isolated section of the Tokyo Park for training, and thanks to the demon lord's magic, no longer have to worry about unwanted witnesses finding them. Rias had placed several magical runes around the perimeter which not only warded off people, or monsters, that weren't welcome, but also hid those inside from sight.

"Wow, Rias," Kazuto commented as he glanced at the several red runes that surrounded the group. "I wish you revealed yourself sooner. This is something we really needed for a while now."

"Yeah," Kuroba agreed. "It's largely been thanks to luck that we've managed to hide our training here for this long, at least from the public."

The red-haired demoness simply smiled. "Honestly, I wish I revealed my true identity sooner as well. Maybe if I did, things could have gone differently."

Frank just shrugged in response. "Well we can't change the past, so let's just focus on moving forward." He let out a pained grunt as he slouched forward in response to his chest flaring in pain. However, it was much less severe than it was weeks ago.

"Are you okay, Marth?" Fuko questioned as she used her arms to support the Blade Eater. She was the only other Nega Nebulus member to know the half-demon's condition as she had caught a bit of Frank and Kuroba's conversation on the bridge, prompting the duo to give her the full story. Naturally, she felt that it would be best to tell the others about this, but she won't disobey the orders from her Legion Master.

"Y-yeah," Frank said slowly as his wolf pendant flared to life, surrounding his body in a comforting shadow before fading, along with his pain. "Thanks to my mom's magic, my pendant's been able to weaken the pain of my deterioration and slow it down. It makes it much more bearable."

"I'm sorry that I can only help you deal with the symptoms," Rias said in sorrow, her eyes filled with guilt. "I've been searching through all my old tomes to see if there is a cure but the most I could find is a spell that can extract one's soul from its body. Unfortunately, that spell is too risky to use because there's not a spell that lets the soul regenerate a new body."

"That really sucks," Meg added slowly. After learning of her brother's terminal condition, she had decided to move into the Hagino apartment, with Rias converting her office into a bedroom for the girl. She did this partially to be close to her brother and partially so she can help the demon lord search for a cure. Suguha, despite not knowing the true reason for the move, was very understanding and chose to move into Kazuto's apartment as there was no reason for her to keep theirs. "But we can't give up. There's got to be something we're missing."

"Anyway," Frank spoke up as he materialized Lunara and Solaris before handing them over to Kuroba, who reluctantly accepted them. "Let's continue with your Dual Blades training. Just like the last few sessions, Kazuto's going to be the one coaching you through it. I'd do it myself, but I need to continue my own training with Mom and Meg."

The Black King nodded in understanding. "Okay. But are you sure it's alright for Kazuto to be teaching me? Even without the Fenrir Effect, Kazuto still needs to draw ether from you to use his powers. Won't this speed up your deterioration?"

This time Kazuto was the one who answered. "As long as I manage how much ether I'm using and stick to only using Sword Skills, it should be okay. Strangely enough, Wolf Heart for both of us doesn't require ether to use. Any idea why, Rias?"

"Oh, that's an easy explanation," the demoness replied. "You and Frank's wolf forms come straight from the twin wolf deities, Remus and Fenris respectively. You both went through a trial to prove that you were worthy of their powers and succeeded. A part of their spirits lives within you two and that's what allows you to use some of their powers."

"Oh yeah," Kazuto realized as he remembered fighting the white wolf, Remus, and was only able to win by using elemental Sword Skills. "Plus, I've used Wolf Heart before I restored my resonance with Frank before. I can't believe I forgot that."

"I wouldn't blame you. Most of your powers are tied to your virtual avatars so it's only natural that you would get some things mixed up. Some day I might go into more detail about who Remus and Fenris were, but this isn't the time or place. We have other priorities at the moment."

"Agreed," Frank replied. "Now let's get started."

"Right!" the others said quickly.

Kazuto morphed into his SAO form as it was the form where he got the Dual Blades Unique Skill and led Kuroba away from the others so they could spar without risking their safety. Meanwhile, the other four members sat down on the grass, with Rias sitting right in front of the teens. While the only ones who could really benefit from her teachings were Frank and Meg, Fuko was there for moral support and to help comfort the Black Wolf player should things go south.

"Now then, let us begin by going over the basics," Rias said slowly. "As you are aware, demons were brought into existence from the Shadow Goddess Sinestra. She first used her own blood to create the Umbris royal family, and from them, the rest of the demon race. While all demons are considered her children, only the Umbris family had actual blood ties to her. Because of this connection, the members of the royal family were considered the most powerful demons in existence."

"No wonder Altena was so strong," Meg said in awe. "If she was the descendant of a goddess, then it is only natural for her to be super powerful. I wish I could remember her from my life as Lucia."

"Same," Frank agreed. "I don't have any memories of my life as Zane. I bet they would be helpful right about now."

"It isn't that surprising that the memories of your previous lives are gone," Rias explained. "When you and the other Remnants were reborn, it's essentially a hard reset, a new person. You don't retain anything from your previous lives, like your memories or skills. If that wasn't the case, then Kuroba would have all of the abilities she had as Yuuki, like Mother's Rosario."

"That's true," the Dark Swordsman replied. "It makes sense that we can't use the powers we had from our previous lives. It's still a little disappointing though."

"Yep," Meg added.

Fuko simply giggled. "A shame there's no 'new game plus' in real life. Speaking of Kuroba, does anyone else think it's kind of funny how she is the reincarnation of a fairy?"

The three demons laughed while the person they were talking about was clashing swords with Kirito, oblivious to what was going on around her.

"She certainly doesn't look the part," Meg agreed. "The black clothes, her cold demeaner as the Black King, nothing about her really screams 'fairy' to me. Well, except for her Black Swallowtail Butterfly avatar that she uses for school."

"It's not a coincidence that she chose that appearance for her school avatar," Rias spoke up. "Even if she doesn't remember her past life as Celine, parts of it are etched into her very being. That's something that will never fade away. Anyway, we've gotten way off topic. Now then, demons are connected to the darkness and they can draw strength from it, which allowed them to flourish in the harsh lands of Eternus. Demon blood possesses a certain kind of power, allowing certain individuals to bring out their true selves when their blood awakens. That is what you two must achieve in order to bring out your true power."

"Our true selves?" Meg questioned, her head cocked in confusion. "Are you referring to our 'Thorrnn' and 'Marth' personas?"

"In a way, yes," Rias confirmed with a nod. "It is in the virtual world where you and Frank became the people you are now, so in a sense, those personas are your true selves. It is actually quite common for half-demons to take on a new name when they awaken their dark blood. A name that suits their new identity."

"Interesting," Fuko commented. "I know that there are people that lose themselves within the virtual world to the point that they can't tell the difference between it and the real one, but not like this. Is it really safe for Marth and Thorrnn to proceed with this mindset?"

The Sky Raker player glanced over at the Dark Swordsman, who was sitting on her right, and saw him staring at his open palm. He was silent for several moments, which made her feel worried for him as she had seen countless other burst linkers lose themselves to their avatars of the Accelerated World and did not want to see someone dear to her beloved friend go down the same route.

As if he could read her mind, Frank suddenly said, "Don't worry, Fuko. I haven't lost myself into the virtual world. To be honest, ever since I got out of SAO, I've felt… _different_ , like I wasn't really myself anymore. I figured it was because I needed to readjust to the real world, but that didn't help. And I think I know why now, because Frank Storm-Furuta vanished the moment he entered that floating castle in the sky and a new person was born in his place. The Frank that I've been for over decade was simply a mask, a mask that I didn't even know I was wearing."

"Does that mean we need to call you 'Marth' now?" Meg joked, getting a laugh out of her brother.

"Heh, maybe, but not yet," he said simply. "I don't think I'm ready to take this mask off just yet, not until I fully discover who I am."

Fuko let out a sigh of relief. "That's reassuring to hear. I never would have thought that the virtual world could bring out a person's true self, especially from your era. For Brain Burst, I can sort of understand as the duel avatars are built around the trauma of their creators."

"You don't need that to discover your true identity," Frank answered firmly. "Me and Kirito have viewed ourselves as swordsmen for the longest time, ever since we first logged into the beta test of Sword Art Online. Klein likes to pretend he's a samurai and there are times where Sinon thinks that she's a real sniper. That's just what happens when you play VRMMOs."

"He's right," Meg agreed with a light smile. "Whenever I logged into ALO, I always felt this sense of wonder and excitement in me, like I had entered a brand new world that I could interact with and had an actual life in. It was incredible."

"Speaking of which," Frank spoke up as he locked eyes with his sister. "Do you plan on changing your name when you awaken your blood or are you gonna stick with your birth name?"

The Emerald Fencer looked puzzled for a moment before holding her chin with one hand. She seemed to be thinking the idea over in her head.

"If you're going to change your name when you find out your real self, Brother, then I think I should do the same," Meg finally answered. "I don't hate my current name, but if I do awaken my blood and discover my true self, I don't think it would suit me anymore. However, I don't think that 'Thorrnn' would be a suitable name either. I don't know what name will suit me."

"It'll come to you when the time is right," Rias said calmly. "Sometimes the name that suits you is one that you wouldn't expect. Now then, let's start to practice with unleashing your demon powers. Just like always, we'll take this nice and slow."

The half-demons nodded and closed their eyes. They focused their thoughts onto the darkness that resided in their blood and attempted to tap into it, like the trigger of a gun. After around two hours had passed, nothing seemed to happen. However, once another three minutes has gone by, for a brief second, a dark aura surrounded Meg and her hair became jet-black, but it quickly faded and her hair regained its usual brown color. She then let out a heavy pant as her eyes opened. She looked mentally exhausted.

"Why do I feel so tired?" Meg questioned as she tried to catch her breath.

"You're attempting to awaken your true power through willpower alone," Rias explained. "It is only natural for your mental strength to be drained as you do so. You need to strengthen your mind so that it can handle the strain of drawing out your power. That is why we are doing these routines."

Meg simply nodded before glancing over at her brother, who was still deep meditation. With how he handled the Incarnate System and all the battles he's been in, she thought for sure that her brother could do this easily. However, for some reason his body wasn't reacting whatsoever. In fact, he seemed to be struggling to do anything as he let out a strained grunt and sweat caked his brow.

"Brother?" she asked in concern as she reached out and grabbed his shoulder to give it a light squeeze.

Frank sighed in defeat as he stopped focusing his mind before opening his eyes. "It's…no good," he panted. "It's just like…when I tried to return to my old appearance. My body won't allow it."

"That's not good," Fuko said before turning her head at the demoness. "Is there anything you can do, Rias?"

Unfortunately, the sorceress could only shake her head. "I was afraid of this. It appears Frank's ether energy is conflicting with his demon blood to the point that his blood won't respond to him. It will take an immense amount of willpower to circumvent it."

The Blade Eater let out a groan in annoyance. "That sounds like it'll take forever. Isn't there another way?"

Rias lowered her head in reluctance as a dark thought popped into her head. "There is a temporary way, but it is very dangerous. We demons possess a terrifying anger that can unleash the slumbering power within our blood. However, such a method is extremely risky as it is nearly impossible for us to form a rational thought in such a state and become a danger to not only ourselves, but the people around us. There's even no guarantee that we can revert back to our previous selves."

"Terrifying anger?" Frank said in surprise. Suddenly he thought back to that terrible memory in Aincrad, the one where he nearly committed a terrible sin and regrets to this very day. "Maybe that's why my anger has been so dangerous. I might not have been tapping into my demon blood, but I was instead bringing out the dark side of my personality."

"It's hard to say," Rias admitted. "From what you told me regarding the battle with Laughing Coffin, the incident with Yellow Radio, and when Meg was being tortured, your anger was justified. I wouldn't say that you were bringing out a dark side of yourself during those incidents."

"But they weren't the only times I felt such anger," Frank said softly as he covered his right eye in his palm. "There is one memory in particular where I nearly committed a terrible sin. It is something that haunts me to this very day. Only a handful of people know about it, Kazuto included."

Meg suddenly found herself overcome with worry. "What is it? What did you do?"

A single tear leaked down his cheek as Frank told them about the painful memory. When he was done, Fuko pulled the male demon into a hug while both Meg and Rias clenched their fists in anger.

"To think that this PoH would do something like that to you," Rias said in fury. "If I ever see that man, I'll make sure his soul suffers for all eternity."

"I want to make him pay too!" Meg added with a venomous tone. "No one does that to my brother! No one!" For a brief second, her eyes flashed a bloodred and she was surrounded by a black aura.

"Awesome, Kuroba!" Kirito suddenly shouted in excitement, causing the quartet to snap out of their states.

The four of them turned and saw that Kuroba had performed the five-hit Dual Blades Sword Skill, Savage Radian. Both she and Kirito were smiling at the feat.

"You've been improving rather nicely," Kirito continued. "I would have thought it would take you another week to perform that Sword Skill."

"Our partner is slowly dying to the power he gained to protect our friends," Kuroba said firmly. "I don't have time to take this slowly. I need to get stronger as quickly as possible."

"That's true, but that doesn't mean you should push yourself too hard. We need you too after all."

The Black King cracked a light smirk. "I'll be fine. I am a king after all."

The two Drivers shared a laugh before sheathing their swords and making their way to the others. Luckily, the quartet had managed to recover from Frank's story and now appeared normal so as to not worry the duo.

"So how are you guys faring?" Kirito questioned, unaware of what the group had been discussing. "Have you made any progress with awakening your demon blood?"

Meg simply shook her head. "No, not really. This isn't something that can done in a single day. It could take us months to actually awaken our powers."

"I see," Kuroba spoke up inquisitively. She herself hadn't made much progress with awakening her blood either, despite Rias's efforts to be a good teacher. "Well we knew that this wouldn't be easy, but I worry if we'll have enough time for the three of us to awaken our blood. We don't know what Arcanos and his allies are planning and we don't know how long Frank's body can last."

"Not to mention there's Dark Cerberus," Frank brought up. "He's pretty set on making you pay for Red Rider's banishment of Brain Burst. We don't know when he'll attack you."

Hearing the name of her other friend made Fuko lower her head. She was well aware of Cerberus's vendetta against the Black King and knew he was a threat, but she couldn't bring herself to hate him. He was hurting, just like Frank and Kuroba were over their pasts. She could only hope that she can stop Cerberus before it is too late.

"Anyway," Kirito spoke up, snapping Fuko out of her thoughts. "I think we should call it quits for today. We don't have school tomorrow so shall we continue this tomorrow?"

"Actually, I can't come tomorrow," Frank suddenly said. "I've made other plans. Sorry."

Kirito's eyes then widened in realization. "Oh yeah. I forgot. That means I can't come either."

Kuroba raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What are you guys talking about? What are these plans?"

Frank simply smirked. "Sorry, but that's a secret. I can't make it too easy for you."

" _Seriously!_ " Kuroba shouted in annoyance. While she enjoyed teasing her boyfriend with similar lines, it wasn't fun when he did the same to her. Unfortunately she also knew that she couldn't really force it out of Frank either so she had no choice but to trust him.

"I can't go either," Meg added. "Me and some of the other girls are going to the mall tomorrow for a girl's day. Asuna's been kind of depressed since we learned that Lisbeth betrayed us so we were hoping that this would cheer her up."

"Alright," Kirito replied as he folded his arms across his chest, a light smile stretched across his face. "I think that's just what Asuna needs. Have fun tomorrow."

"Thanks. We will."

Kirito reverted back to his regular form while Lunara and Solaris disappeared from Kuroba's back and Rias dismissed her runes. The group then began to head back to the city. However, unbeknownst to Kuroba and Meg, Frank, Kazuto, Rias and Fuko shared slight grin.

* * *

**May 6th, 2057**

Meg, Asuna, Suguha and Ayano were at the Tokyo mall browsing through different clothes. Shino would be joining them later as she had some homework she needed to catch up on. However, while they did extend the offer to Kuroba, she turned it down to hang out with Megumi. It would be unlikely for the quartet to run into their Legion Master in the same mall as there were several of them in the city. Strangely enough, Fuko also turned down the offer but she never gave a clear reason why, only that she had other plans.

_"Weird,"_ Meg thought as she was browsing through different shirts. _"Frank also said he had plans today. Could they be…"_ She quickly shook her head to dismiss the thought. _"No they wouldn't. Frank would never cheat on Kuroba. He's not that kind of guy."_

"Hey, Big Sister," a childlike voice spoke up. "It's been a while."

Meg snapped out of her thoughts and looked down, where she saw a small red-haired girl staring at her with a deceptively innocent smile. She had only met the girl a handful of times as she had occasionally visited the girl's school with her brother, but she could never forget that voice.

"Hey, Niko," Meg said with a light smile. "What brings you here?"

Yuniko Kozuki, otherwise known as the burst linker Scarlet Rain and the new Red King, had managed to track down Black Wolf's true identity last year in order to get his help to deal with the fifth Chrome Disaster incident. After Chrome Disaster was dealt with, she went back the dormitory school for orphans but occasionally messages Frank and Meg as they knew what it was like to lose their parents. She also insisted on playing the baby sister of the three, but it eventually grew on the Furuta siblings. However, it was also common knowledge in the Black Legion that Yuniko loves getting on Kuroba's nerves.

"Well I didn't have classes today and I heard from Asuna that you all were going to this mall for a girl's day," Yuniko explained. "Any room for one more?"

Meg simply shrugged. "Sure, why not."

"Yay! Thanks so much, Big Sister!" Yuniko shouted in joy as she jumped up and gave the older girl a hug.

Even though Yuniko was acting like a normal child, Meg knew that was far from her actual personality, the confidant and sadistic Red King that rained Hell down on her enemies. It would be very unwise to provoke someone like her. Besides, the Emerald Fencer did have a soft spot for the girl and views her as a little sister.

"Can I pick out anything I want?" Yuniko asked eagerly.

"Sure, but don't go too crazy on it. I don't have unlimited amounts of money."

Meg did have a part-time job, which was working in a fast-food joint, which she used to help pay for her and Suguha's rent. But since she had moved in with her brother and Rias, her funds had been accumulating nicely. Plus Rias and Shiro gave her an allowance as if to make up for lost time.

"Fine," Yuniko said in mock disappointment. She then hurried over to Ayano, who was browsing through different skirts.

"Sorry about that," Asuna said sheepishly, who was on Meg's right. "It's been a while since we've seen Niko and I thought it would be alright to invite her."

Meg simply shook her head in understanding. "No, it's fine. I don't mind Niko being here, but now I'm glad Kuroba isn't here. I don't think this mall could withstand those two."

The Lightning Flash simply giggled. "True. Speaking of our Legion Master, why don't we look for something for her so she won't feel left out. We can do the same for Fuko too."

"Sure. I'm down with that."

After a few minutes of browsing and trying out different clothes, the girls proceeded to check out the clothes that they liked leading to them exiting the store with several small bags of clothing.

"Okay," Suguha said cheerfully. "Where to next?"

"How about we go look at new shoes?" Yuniko suggested. "There's this one pair that's had my eye for a while now."

"I'm okay with that," Ayano added.

Asuna simply chuckled in response. "Okay. I guess we'll go to the shoe store next. Let's…" Suddenly Asuna went silent as she saw something odd walk through the large hall, passed the store they were in front of.

Picking up on her silence, Meg asked, "What's wrong, Asuna?"

"It can't be," the Ardent Flash player said in disbelief. "What are _they_ doing here?"

"What are you talking about?" Yuniko asked impatiently. "We're wasting time just standing here. We've got shoes to buy!"

"Guys, look!" Asuna said as she pointed at a pair of two teens, one boy and one girl.

The other Black Legion members gasped as they recognized the pair.

"What the?" Suguha said in shock. "Why are Frank and Fuko here?! Just the two of them no less."

"I don't know," Meg replied. Her brother had left way earlier than her this morning and when she asked Rias, the demoness simply that he went out with a friend. Meg naturally assumed that her foster mother was referring to Kazuto as the discussion from yesterday showed that they had plans for today but she never would have guessed that Frank would be hanging out alone with Fuko.

Obviously Yuniko was confused by the brunette by the Dark Swordsman's side. "Hey, who's that girl next to Frank?" she questioned, dropping her baby sister persona.

"A friend of ours," Asuna explained. "Her name's Fuko Kurasaki. She's another burst linker. Her avatar's name is Sky Raker."

It was taboo to reveal such sensitive information to another burst linker, especially one on a rival legion, but Yuniko would never take advantage of that since the Black Legion knew her real identity and it would be very wrong to do.

"Sky Raker? That name sounds familiar. Wasn't she a member of the original Nega Nebulus and was the closest player to achieve flight before Black Wolf appeared?"

Meg nodded in confirmation. "Yep. That's her. She actually rejoined Nega Nebulus a few weeks ago. But why is she here with Frank?"

Yuniko trotted over to stand in front of the group and puffed out her chest. "Isn't it obvious? It's clear that they're on a date. I can't wait to rub this in Kuroba's face!"

The other girls looked uneasy at the idea. "I don't know," Ayano said slowly. "Frank's already in a relationship with Kuroba and he doesn't look like he's the type of guy who would cheat."

"Well clearly something's going on between those two," Yuniko pressed. "Why don't we spy on them to find out what it is."

"I don't know," Meg said slowly. "It's not easy to spy on my brother. His Hypersense tends to alert him whenever people are watching him."

"Oh we'll be fine if we keep our distance," Yuniko said stubbornly. "Besides, don't you want to make sure your brother isn't cheating on his girlfriend?"

The half-demon gazed at her friends, who all looked reluctant to spy on a friend, even if there was the possibility of him cheating. However, the Nega Nebulus members also knew that Frank's Hypersense didn't actually have a designated range as he was able to sense the high-speed bullet from Death Gun's Silent Assassin sniper rifle from hundreds of meters away _and_ manage to dodge it.

Eventually Meg huffed out a defeated sigh as her curiosity won her over. "Okay. Let's go."

The quintet hurried after the strange duo, who had just exited from a jewelry store, but had no bags. They somehow managed to avoid being seen by Frank and Fuko and began following them down the large halls of the mall.

"I can certainly see why Frank would be interested in dating her," Yuniko commented as they watched the duo browse through the hand-crafted necklaces on a small stand from a safe distance. However, by using the camera function of her Neurolinker, the Red King was able to get a good look on Fuko's physique despite the distance. "She's certainly got a bigger bust than Kuroba and she's pretty hot. I'd say he's got a pretty good package there."

Meg let out a groan. "I'd say I'd be concerned with you knowing what bust is," she said slowly, "but then I remember that you're also one to cuss several times while playing video games or battling other burst linkers."

"Either way, that doesn't really sound like Frank's style," Asuna added. "He's more into learning about a girl's personality than dating her for her looks."

"What are they saying anyway?" Ayano questioned as she noticed that the duo they were watching seemed to be having a conversation with each other. "They're too far away for me to hear."

It was too risky for the group to get closer, but Meg had an idea to circumvent that. From what she learned from Rias, there was the possibility that she could use the power in her blood to temporarily increase her hearing so long as she focuses on a specific point. She sat down on a nearby bench and closed her eyes to focus her mind. This was actually an easier technique to use as she was only using her blood for a temporary boost for one part of the body, rather than for her entire body.

She blocked out nearly every sound around her, except for the small space where her friends were gathered and where her brother and his "date" were. It wasn't long before she could make out what the two were saying.

"What about this one?" Frank questioned. He was most likely showing the brunette beside him a necklace.

"No, that one doesn't look like a good choice," Fuko replied knowingly. "What do think of this one? It has a beautiful pattern on it."

"I don't know," Meg could picture her brother scratching the back of his head as he spoke, "It looks nice, but I don't think it would work either. This is way harder than I thought."

Fuko simply giggled in response. "Don't worry," she said soothingly. "That's why I'm here after all."

Asuna then asked what the duo were saying, prompting Meg to tell the group what she heard. When she was done, the girls were still stumped on what was going on.

"So they're looking for jewelry?" Suguha questioned. "But what for?"

"Maybe it's for Fuko to wear when they go to a fancy restaurant," Yuniko guessed. "And then they go to Frank's apartment and…"

"Okay," Meg said quickly as she quickly opened her eyes, cancelling her hearing boost, and covered the Red King's mouth with her hand before the younger girl could finish her thought. "I think that's enough from you, _little sister_. We don't need to hear any dirty thoughts right now."

* * *

Nakamura Hajime was walking across the sidewalk a few blocks away from the Tokyo mall. He was around the half-demon's age, had short black hair (if you need a reference, look up Jellal from Fairy Tail), and yellow eyes. He was the same boy who Frank had bumped into when he acquired Fuko's Gale Thruster. He was also none other than Dark Cerberus.

For no reason whatsoever, he found himself stopping in his tracks as he felt a shiver down his spine. "Why do I suddenly feel like someone is having dirty thoughts involving Raker hanging out with Marth?" he questioned. Nakamura simply shrugged in response.

While he may have a new-found hatred for the Dark Swordsman, he wasn't going to stop Fuko from hanging out with the guy. However, he did feel a pang of jealousy from the thought but he simply dismissed the thought and continued on his way.

* * *

Yuniko struggled to break free from the half-demon's grasp until after a few minutes, Meg finally let her go. "Oh, come on," the younger girl complained. "I'm just messing around. You're such a buzzkill, _Big Sister_."

Meg simply rolled her eyes and was about to say something when she sensed something amiss. "Quick! Everyone, hide," she said hastily.

The others were taken aback by the sudden outburst but quickly obeyed with Ayano and Yuniko ducking behind a potted bush while the older girls opened some magazines and pretended to read them. And just in time too as Frank had glanced in their direction under the suspicion of being watched.

"Is something wrong?" Fuko questioned in concern.

Frank stared at the group's direction for a few more seconds before finally turning away and faced her. "No," he replied slowly. "Let's try somewhere else."

Fuko still a little concerned but simply nodded in response. They then began to walk off, away from Meg and the others.

Asuna let out a sigh of relief as she put down her magazine. "That was a close one," she said slowly, as if her breath had been stolen from her. "Nice work, Meg. I didn't even sense that coming."

Meg simply shrugged. "It's probably just a demon thing. I just got lucky is all."

Yuniko cocked her head in confusion. "Demon thing? What are you talking about?"

The other girls let out a deep breath. "It's a long story and this isn't a good time for it," Suguha replied. "C'mon. They're getting away."

The group hurried after the suspicious duo and saw that they were going into another jewelry store, one that was very familiar to one of them.

"Hey, that's the same store where Kuroba got Frank's pendant," Suguha realized.

"Really?" Asuna questioned. "But why are they so set on looking for jewelry? There's got to be something we're missing here."

"What are you missing?"

The girls let out a yelp as they turned around to see a confused Shino.

"Geez, Sinon, you nearly gave us a heart attack," Yuniko complained as she tried to calm her heart.

"Uh, sorry," Shino said, still looking confused. She glanced into the jewelry store and saw that the duo that was inside. "Um, why are you guys spying on Marth and Fuko?"

"Please be quiet, Sinon," Asuna said softly, desperately hoping that they wouldn't be caught. "We're trying to make sure Marth isn't cheating on Kuroba with Fuko."

Shino simply blinked for a few seconds, completely stupefied, before bursting out laughing. "Hahaha! Are you serious, Asuna? _It's_ Marth, of course he isn't cheating on Kuroba. He'd be too terrified to face our combined wrath to even try, not to mention Kuroba's wrath."

"She…does have a point," Ayano slowly admitted. "There's no way any of us would let Marth or Kirito off with cheating with another girl. Plus Kuroba can be really terrifying when she's angry."

Meg let out a groan. "Let's just go ask them. That's something we should have done in the beginning." Before even waiting for a response, she marched into the store, towards her brother when suddenly the sounds of dry thunder boomed in the air and the world became a saturated blue.

_"What? A duel? Now?!"_ Meg questioned as her consciousness was accelerated by a thousand times the usual rate. However, she soon noticed that she was logged into the Gallery rather than the Arena, meaning that someone in her watch list was challenged to a duel. The mall soon morphed into the ruined city that was the World's End stage.

"What's going on?!" Silica questioned as she and the others made their way over to Emerald Fencer.

Thorrnn looked up at the versus icon and saw none other than Black Wolf and Sky Raker up against ten burst linkers of various levels.

"What the?" she said in shock. "Is this some kind of battle royal?"

"Looks that way," Yuniko replied in a cold voice. "I've heard of several cases of an expensive item that can be bought in the Unlimited Neutral Field that can allow such battles. They can only be used on burst linkers who are level 6 or higher but anyone in their immediate vicinity can be dragged into the duel as well."

"Why would Brain Burst allow that?" Leafa questioned. "That sounds like it can be easily exploited against weaker players."

"The item takes the skill of the target into question, as well as those near them, and judges if they can handle fighting against the odds that are set by its users," Yuniko explained. "Since the challenge went through, that means Marth has the chance of handling this duel. Plus he's got a level 8 veteran burst linker as his partner. He's got this."

Thorrnn glanced over at her brother, who had changed into Black Wolf, and saw that there was a sky-blue duel avatar in a small wheelchair beside him.

"Um, I think we have a problem," she said in worry. "Sky Raker's in a wheelchair."

"What?!" Yuniko shouted in surprise. "That shouldn't be needed. If her limbs are severed, even in the Unlimited Neutral Field, they should be restored the moment she logs back in." She slapped her forehead with an empty palm. "Damn it. I'd say we should join in, but we'd need the approval of all contestants in the duel and there's no way his opponents will allow that."

"Are you serious?" Sinon retorted. "These guys just ambushed our friend and you're saying that all we can do is watch? I won't believe that."

"I can hear you back there!" Marth suddenly shouted, causing the girls to go silent. "I knew someone was watching us earlier. You guys really need to work on your stealth skills. They were really lousy."

Yuniko simply slouched in defeat. "You mean you were playing dumb all this time," the Red King replied. "Either way, you can't handle this alone!"

Marth simply tossed them a smirk. "Oh really?" he questioned confidently before facing in front of him. "Are you guys going to keep hiding or are we actually going to fight?"

As if on que, ten enemy burst linkers of various colors appeared before the duo, surrounding them.

"So you're Black Wolf, the protégé of Black Lotus," a blue duel avatar said arrogantly. "You don't look all that impressive. Maybe we should have brought less players."

"Is there a particular reason why you challenged Wolf to a battle royal?" Fuko questioned inquisitively.

"Isn't it obvious?" a green burst linker replied. "We're part of the Yellow Legion and we're here for some payback for that battle eight months ago. There's no Chrome Disaster or Black King to save you this time, Wolf."

"Eight months ago?" Thorrnn questioned.

That was around the time when Marth and the early members of the reformed Nega Nebulus had teamed up with Scarlet Rain to destroy Chrome Disaster, only for them to get ambushed by Yellow Radio and his legion.

Yuniko clenched her teeth in anger. "I should have known he'd try something like this. That Radio is a damn snake!"

However, much to the surprise of everyone, minus Sky Raker, Marth began laughing.

"Hey, what's so funny?!" a burst linker with magnets for hands exclaimed.

"Oh nothing. I just find it funny that you guys are still holding this resentment for me for this long," Marth said smugly. "If you want to fight me, then go right ahead. However," he drew his swords and took on a battle position in one swift motion, "I can't guarantee that most of you will escape unharmed. But you can count yourselves lucky that you can only feel half the pain you would normally feel in the real world here."

Most of the Yellow Legion members took a step back in shock. They clearly weren't expecting such confidence from the level 6 burst linker.

"Uh, I'm not so sure this is a good idea," a copper burst linker said in fear. "This guy's almost as scary as Black Lotus."

"Stop being so scared!" the blue avatar shouted, trying to calm his teammates' nerves. "He's just one guy and his partner's crippled. They can't beat us."

That seemed to do the trick as the other nine burst linkers were regaining their confidence. However, Marth's smirk didn't even falter.

"Looks like they're still set on fighting us," Fuko said calmly.

"Looks that way," Marth replied. "Raker, you can stand down. I can handle this."

"Are you sure? They do outnumber us after all."

"Yeah, but it wouldn't be the first time I've fought battles like this. Besides, I've been wanting to try this technique out for a while now."

Instead of pressing further, Sky Raker simply relaxed and nodded. "Very well. I'll be rooting for you."

Marth brought his swords together and began to focus his mind, following Kuroba's teachings to the nail.

"Overdrive! Mode Blue!" Suddenly the partition lines in Marth's armor began glowing with a bright blue light.

"What the? When could he do that?!" one enemy burst linker shouted in disbelief.

The Dark Swordsman simply smirked as he took a single step forward. "Well then," he said in a confidant tone. "Let's get started."

He quickly located the lowest level burst linker, which was a female brown duel avatar who was level 3 before charging at her at high-speed. Two higher level players tried to block his path, but he slid right under them and continued his advance. He was soon within striking range of his target and before she could react, quickly defeated her by chaining Sharp Nail and Horizontal Square together.

The other Yellow Legion members were horrified.

"Who's next?" Marth asked simply.

* * *

**Later**

It didn't take long for Marth to defeat the remaining nine opponents as he used a combination of Sword Skills and his lightning magic, allowing him and his friends to return to the real world.

"Wow," Yuniko said in awe as she and the others made their way over to Frank and Fuko. "I didn't think you could handle that battle by yourself. You're way stronger than you were eight months ago, Frank."

The Blade Eater simply chuckled in response. "I just used their arrogance against them, plus they really didn't know who they were dealing with," Frank answered casually. It was almost like nothing had even happened. "Although it did give me some good practice with my Overdrive modes."

"Speaking of which," Asuna spoke up. "When did you learn how to do that?"

"A few days after we defeated Seiji. Kuroba and I spent a few weeks in the Unlimited Neutral Field and I was able to gain a Blue mode and a Green mode. Haven't had a reason to use them though, at least until today." He then took on a more serious expression. "Now why don't you all explain why you were spying on us?"

Shino raised her hands in defense. "Hey, I'm innocent. I didn't get here until just now," she said hastily.

"Relax, Sinon," Frank replied. "I know you're innocent."

"Thank you."

Meanwhile the other girls, minus Fuko, gulped nervously. None of them really wanted to say it, but since they got busted, they had no choice.

"We, uh, were checking to make sure you weren't cheating on Kuroba with Fuko," Meg said slowly.

A few seconds of silence passed, which made things even more unnerving for the group before both Frank and Fuko burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! Are you serious?" Frank said in between laughs. "Do I really look like I'd do such a thing? Haha!"

"Haha! I haven't laughed this hard in years," Fuko added before finally calming down. "It looks like there's been a misunderstanding. Frank wanted to buy a gift for Kuroba and since I'm one of her oldest friends, asked me if I could help find one. We've been spending the whole day going to different jewelry stores to find a suitable gift. That's all."

"See," Shino said with a smirk. "I told you Marth isn't a cheater."

"Hey, it's not our fault!" Suguha exclaimed in defense. "Yuniko was the one who suggested it."

"Don't throw me under the bus!" the Red King retorted. "You guys actually went along with it so you're just as guilty."

Both Asuna and Meg let out a heavy sigh as Suguha got into an argument with the younger girl.

"Honestly, Asuna, I thought you knew me better than that," Frank said, almost in disappointment, making the Lightning Flash feel even more guilty for doubting her friend.

"I'm so sorry," she said sincerely as she bowed her head in shame. "I shouldn't have doubted you, Marth."

"Just to be sure, who all knew that you and Fuko would be gift shopping?" Meg questioned.

"Let's see, there's Mrs. Hagino, Kazuto, Shino, Andrew and Klein," Fuko said after some thought. "Did I forget anyone?"

"Nope," Frank confirmed. "That's everyone."

Asuna let out a groan as she face-palmed. This whole situation could have been easily avoided with one direct call. "I should have known Kirito knew about it. You hardly hide anything from him," she replied. "It's not that surprising that Rias knew as well, but why also Klein and Agil? And wait, SINON KNEW!"

Shino cracked a guilty smile. "Yeah, I did," she said sheepishly as she adjusted her glasses. "That's actually why I was late, because I was helping Kirito and the others get things ready at Dicey's. He didn't want to risk Kuroba finding out so he only got handful of us to help out. Sorry about lying to you, Asuna."

The Lightning Flash simply sighed in defeat. "It's fine. It's my own fault for jumping to conclusions like this."

"Hey, Marth," Ayano spoke up. "Did you manage to find a present for Kuroba?"

The Dark Swordsman gave the younger girl a smile. "Actually I did before I was so rudely interrupted by the Yellow Legion. Take a look." He pointed at a particular necklace in the glass case right next to him.

* * *

**That Evening**

"Why are we going to Dicey's?" Kuroba questioned as she and Frank were walking down the alleyway.

She had just parted ways with Megumi after spending the whole day with her when the Black King received a vague message from her protégé, asking her to meet him at the nearby train station.

Frank simply smiled in response. "You'll know when we get there. Have a little patience."

"Urg. I hate it when you use my teasing against me! Can't you at least give me a hint?"

"Sorry, no."

"Oh, come on!"

The Dark Swordsman just chuckled in amusement before they finally arrived at the café. The lights were off, making it impossible to see the inside. Frank simply opened the door and gestured for Kuroba to go in. The Black King reluctantly went in before her boyfriend followed after her, closing the door behind him.

"What's—" Kuroba began to say before the lights suddenly flashed on.

"Surprise!" Kazuto, Rias, and remaining members of Nega Nebulus shouted, all with smiles on their faces.

The entire café was covered in black and purple decorations as well as had several bouquets of flowers on the tables and bars. The middle table also had a wide assortment of food.

"What's going on?" Kuroba questioned in surprise. "It's not my birthday or anything."

"No, but today has another special meaning," Kazuto spoke up. "One that started it all."

"Huh?"

Frank simply chuckled as he had his hands in coat pockets and stood in front of his girlfriend. "You see, today is the day that we first met," he explained. "Not at the school, but during that field trip where I saved you from Arcanos's forces at the museum. Had I not went in and saved you, things probably would have gone much differently."

Kuroba gasped as she realized that he was right. While that memory still haunted the reborn fairy, it was that incident that led her to finding the person she would fall in love with. In a way, that incident, which occurred nine years ago, was what sparked everything that happened within the last eight months, and Kuroba wouldn't change it for a second.

She wrapped her arms around the boy she loved, tears of joy leaking from her eyes. "Thank you, Frank," she said cheerfully. "You really are best boyfriend a girl could have."

The half-demon just smile as he returned the hug. "I should be the one thanking you," he replied. "I don't think I would be the person I am now without you, Kuroba. It's because of you that I'm finally starting to move on from my past. So thank you…for everything."

Kuroba found herself at a loss for words, but she didn't need to say anything. Her Incarnation alone was all Frank needed to sense to feel how happy she was.

"Frank's been planning this for weeks, ever since you guys got back from Okinawa," Andrew explained, catching the Black King's attention. "Seiji did manage to delay those plans but since you guys defeated him so quickly, we were able to get things back on track relatively quickly. Though Rias has certainly been a big help with that."

"You're too kind, Andrew," the demoness said with a smile. "All I was use some of my business connections to get the flowers and catering. It was you and Klein who got the decorations and allowed us to use this place."

"And helped me and Sinon set everything up," Kazuto added. "I'm honestly surprised we managed to keep this a secret for so long. I seriously expected that Klein would accidently mention it during a meeting or something."

"Hey, I can keep a secret!" the samurai player exclaimed in protest. "There was no way I'd ever ruin Marth's big surprise. He deserves it after all the crap he's been through."

_"If only he knew,"_ Kuroba thought to herself. Just like the others, Klein was also in the dark about Frank deterioration but there's no doubt in her mind that if Klein knew, he would try his hardest to support his friend to find a cure.

Kuroba's thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Frank holding a small box that was wrapped in purple wrapping paper.

"What is this?" she asked as she took the box from him.

"Just a little gift from me. Since you gave me a special gift on Christmas, I thought I would return the favor," he answered simply.

Finding herself overcome with curiosity, Kuroba quickly tore into the wrapping paper, pulling out a small black box that contained a necklace with a black lotus flower charm. What was interesting about the lotus was the pure white gemstone in the center, acting as the flower's bud. It was beautiful, like the stars you would see in the night sky, lighting up the dark.

"That's a star tear," Rias explained. "A sacred gemstone that fairies used in their jewelry to infuse them with light magic. They became very rare after the War of Shadows, but some still remain, though humans largely mistake them for diamonds as they can only be found in Arun, which has since become its own dimension."

Once again, Kuroba found herself at a loss for words. Now it wasn't just their resonance, or their past lives, that connected them but these pendants as well. She couldn't be happier at the thought.

"Well?" Frank asked. "What do you think?"

"Do you really need to ask?" Kuroba suddenly wrapped her arm around the Blade Eater and pulled him into a kiss, which he gladly reciprocated.

After a few moments, the couple finally parted and joined the others around the middle table.

"Happy anniversary," Frank said warmly.

"Happy anniversary," Kuroba said back in the same tone.

The gang began to dig into the food, however, none of them noticed that the mysterious green-haired girl was standing outside, hiding from the windows.

"Why did you make me look for that star tear again?" she huffed out in irritation, arms folded across her chest as she leaned against the wall. "Or better yet, why did I have to give it to that jeweler? We could have used that gem for the final phase of acceleration. I know we already have _that_ artifact but having a little extra power wouldn't hurt." She let out a sigh. "Fine. I'll stop complaining. You're just lucky that Marth intrigues me. I do hope he finds a way to survive his little… _condition_."

The girl let out a light chuckle before walking off as the sun began to set.

**To be continued**

* * *

**Wow, I did not think this chapter would be this long. But I think now you guys know why I was excited for this chapter. It had some comedy, plus a really touching moment between Marth and Kuroba. As I've been foreshadowing for the past few chapters, the next arc will be the Chrome Disaster Returns arc and it will be going much differently than it did in the main canon. The next chapter should kick it off but it might be a while before it gets posted as I have to get some of the Accel World light novels because the anime stopped at the Seiji arc and those are the only light novels I have (besides the short story collection which covered most of the Okinawa arc). I hope you guys can be patient with me. See you guys next time!**


	32. Duels And Dragons

**Okay, upon reading some of vol 5 of the Accel World light novels, there's a bit to go through before the Chrome Disaster Returns arc truly begins. I would skip this and move onto the actual arc, but I don't want to skip any potential character moments with Fuko. I hope you guys will be patient with me as I get through this volume.**

**Also, sorry how late this update is. I was having trouble on how to adapt it and had to rewrite it twice.**

* * *

**May 22nd, 2057**

It was a stormy day outside the Hagino apartment, the sky completely covered in gray clouds, blocking the sun. Rias was requested to go on another business trip, however she had decided to stay behind, so she used her magic to convince her boss that that she didn't want to leave because she didn't feel up for traveling, but Meg knew that the real reason was that the demoness wanted to stay as a precaution in case she or her brother needed her. Rias also took this as an opportunity to bond with the Dusk Remnant as the two women have spent the last hour talking while sitting on the couch as the TV played in the background.

"It's raining hard out there," Meg commented as she looked out at the balcony, which was completely drenched in rainwater and raindrops pounded on the glass door.

"Indeed," Rias agreed with a brief nod. "It is that time of year after all. I just hope Frank tries to stay dry out there. Even demons aren't immune to colds."

The Black Wolf player had left around noon (the current time was around 2:00) because he felt like taking a walk despite the monsoon outside. Naturally, Rias made sure he left with an umbrella and a raincoat. However, Frank never stated where he was going or when he'd be back so the demoness had made sure a familiar watched him from a distance, just as a precaution in case Frank ever got attacked or he did something rash. So far, her familiar hadn't alerted her that her adopted son was in danger but Rias refused to let her guard down again.

Meg let out a giggle. "That's a shame," she said jokingly. "I guess even demons get sick sometimes."

Rias also laughed heartily. "Yes. Even though we're immortal, there are some things even demons can't avoid."

A curious thought then came to the half-demon. "Hey, Rias, can you tell me more about Lucia, my previous life?" Meg questioned suddenly.

"Sure. What do you wish to know?"

"Did Lucia, or rather I, have any friends back then?"

Rias pursed her lips as she pondered the question in her mind. "You had several friends in your first life, like Kirito and Asuna. You were also on good terms with Celine as well as your brother, Zane."

"That's good to hear." Meg suddenly began to play with her hair as she bit her lip. There was another question that she wanted to ask. The only problem was that it was kind of embarrassing.

Of course, as if to make the embarrassment worse, Rias seemed to notice. "Is there something else you want to ask?"

Meg gained a slight blush on her face. With no other choice, she decided to bite the bullet and get this over with. "W-were there any people I was romantically interested in?"

Rias's eyes widened in surprise before being replaced with a mischievous gleam. "Oh, I see," the demoness said teasingly. "Actually, there was another person whom you were very close to when you lived as Lucia. Had things gone differently in the war against Zeta, I wouldn't be surprised if you two had married."

"Stop keeping me in suspense, Rias," Meg said almost desperately. "Just tell me who this person is already!"

Rias simply giggled in amusement. "Apologies. I couldn't resist teasing you. There was a boy who you had a romantic interest in during your first life. He was another half-demon, one of the strongest and one of the few survivors of the Purge of Obsidia. His name…was Lelouch Lamperouge."

"Lelouch…Lamperough." Just saying that name filled Meg with nostalgia and made her heart flutter. For just a brief moment, she had a brief vision of seeing a smiling teenage boy with brown hair and purple eyes. _"Strange. I thought Rias said that my memories as Lucia were gone forever. Maybe some memories are so powerful that echoes of them remain."_

"What happened to him after the War of Shadows?" Meg found herself asking. Even though she had no memories of the male half-demon, she still felt concerned about his fate.

"Don't worry," Rias said reassuringly. "Lelouch survived the war. Last I remember, after Zeta used the last of his strength to unleash a curse that his evil will be reborn across all of time, Zane disappeared without a trace. You and Celine then left to go find him, but neither of you returned as well. After that, Lelouch went to search for you, however he was never able to find you. He theorized that you, as Lucia, used some sort of magic to follow your brother, a magic that he himself couldn't perform. So like me, Lelouch decided to seal himself away to recover his strength and so that he can help you when you inevitably return."

Meg let out a sigh of relief. "Well it's good to know that he survived. I wonder if he's awakened yet."

Rias could only shrug. "I don't know," she admitted. "I haven't seen him at all since my reawakening. I'm sure he'll reveal himself when he feels the need to."

Wanting to change the subject to something more lighthearted, the two demons began exchanging stories, most of which containing hilarious moments involving a certain Dark Swordsman.

* * *

_"This storm looks like it'll last forever."_

Frank had been wandering around Shibuya for the last two hours. He was currently leaning against the outside of a convenience store, his umbrella blocking the rain. The reason he left his apartment was largely so his sister and foster mother could spend some time together and bond, although he had a sneaky feeling that they'd most likely share some rather embarrassing stories about him while he's gone. There was another reason why he was wandering the city alone. It's been about a month since Seiji's defeat and Nega Nebulus still hasn't had any encounters with the Acceleration Research Society or Arcanos's forces. Frank couldn't help but wonder what exactly they were planning.

_"Regardless of what their plans may be, we'll stop them,"_ Frank thought to himself. _"I only hope that we're strong enough to do it."_

Suddenly Frank heard a loud roar, catching him by surprise. It sounded like it came from a dragon, a large one at that, but that should be impossible as dragons don't exist in the real world. He quickly examined his surroundings but saw that there was barely anyone else in the area and none of them seemed to have reacted to the sound.

"Could I have…imagined that?" the half-demon wondered before he heard the sound again, with it being much closer than before.

He traced the sound to a nearby alley, where he sensed an unusual presence within. With a skeptical look, Frank marched in, morphing into his SAO form in the process and keeping a close grip on Lunara while it remained in its scabbard. The alley was narrow and had multiple paths, with Marth having to take multiple turns to locate the source of the presence he felt. Eventually he came to a dead end, but saw that no one was here. All that was there were just a few dumpsters and fire escapes.

_"Could this be a trap set by Arcanos? This is pretty far from any civilians and none of my friends are in the area."_

Marth immediately scanned the area with his Searching skill, looking for anything out of place, but he couldn't detect the presence of anyone else in the alley with him. However, he was able to sense a rather unusual presence coming from the end of the alley. It felt strong, yet not threatening, like it was greeting an old friend. Marth went over to investigate and was surprised to see none other than a Yugioh card just lying there on a trash can, completely untouched by the rain.

The half-demon was very much aware of the Yugioh card game, heck he even had a few decks of his own that he occasionally played with back when he lived with the Furutas. This particular card was interesting as it had a picture that contained a bipedal blue dragon with large energy-like wings and red armor pieces. The dragon also seemed to be glowing. It was none other than Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon.

"Interesting," Marth said as he picked the card up to get a closer examination. Just as he thought, the presence he had felt was coming from this card. There seemed to be an unusual power lying dormant within it. He then heard a dragon's roar within his mind, the earth-shattering roar of Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon, as if it was grateful that he had found it. The strange presence around the card also disappeared.

_"This is weird. How can this card possess some sort of sleeping power?"_ Marth questioned. _"Something about this feels unnatural."_

The half-demon wanted to throw the Galaxy Eyes card away and just walk away, but he felt a huge temptation to keep it, though how it came about was a mystery. He let out a defeated sigh as he reverted back to his regular form and pocketed Galaxy Eyes in his raincoat. He decided to have Rias examine it when he gets back home so he can know for sure what this card was.

Frank turned around and began making his way back to the street. Unbeknownst to him, a mysterious woman stepped out from the shadows, with magical runes fading around her, and watched him leave with a smile on her face. She had long purple hair and piercing red eyes. She wore a purple raincoat, black leggings and boots and appeared to be around thirty years old.

"Good," she murmured in triumph. "Now Galaxy Eyes is right where it belongs. All that's left is to bring the other dragons to their masters." She reached into her coat and pulled out several more Yugioh cards. The woman then noticed that the card on the far right was glowing. She simply chuckled in response. "I know you want to meet your mistress, Blue Eyes, but you will have to wait a little longer. Lucia's remnant isn't quite ready just yet." The card flashed for a quick second, as if it was annoyed, before the light finally died down.

It took some of her best runes to hide herself from the Dark Swordsman's sight, which was rather impressive given that he was only a fragment of what the Twilight Swordsman was. She had only been in Tokyo for two weeks now after having been living in the shadowed lands of Eternus for so long, hiding herself from both Arcanos's group and from Rias. While she was sure the Crimson Sorceress wouldn't mind seeing her again after so long, she wanted to keep her presence a secret for as long as possible as it would allow her more freedom to move about. However at the rate she was going, it was inevitable that either party would discover her presence.

The only reason the mysterious woman was on Earth was because she had heard that Arcanos was plotting something big. First, he wanted to locate Zarc, the usurper and the murderer of a dear friend, and revive him, but everything after that was a mystery. Luckily for her, she had placed a mole within Arcanos' ranks to find out what the demon lord was planning next.

"You better not let me down, Lelouch," she said quietly. "We need to find out what Arcanos is planning, for all our sakes."

She had no love for humans, but she didn't hate them either. There was, of course, one exception, and that was the Night Remnant, who was the striking image of one of her adopted sons that she raised during the Era of Beginnings. Although he and her other son have no memories of her, it didn't matter as it was a mother's duty to protect her children. But she was no ordinary woman. She was the wielder of the deadly spear, Gae Bolg, the guardian to the gates of Eternus and a master of rune magic. She was none other than Scathach.

Scathach summoned a teleportation rune under her feet and warped away to an unknown location, preparing to deliver the other dragon cards to their future masters.

* * *

**Later**

Frank had arrived at the isolated section of the park and simply leaned against the lone tree on the hill as the rain continued to fall. He then pulled out Galaxy Eyes's card from his coat and stared at it. No strange presence was coming from it nor could he detect any latent power anymore. It was just an ordinary playing card, for now at least.

"What an odd card," he commented aloud. "Just what is it hiding?"

"What are you talking about?"

The half-demon turned and cracked a small smile as he saw underneath a black umbrella, the person who has stood beside him for most of his life. It was hard to imagine what his life would be without him.

"Hey, Kazuto," Frank greeted casually. "Fancy meeting you here."

"I could say the same to you," the Black Swordsman replied as he closed his umbrella and approached his male partner. He then looked up at the stormy sky. "It sure is raining hard. Too bad you can only control storms that you make yourself and not natural ones."

Frank let out a chuckle in amusement. "Yeah. Maybe one day I'll be able to do that."

Kazuto chuckled as well before eyeing the card in his best friend's hand. "Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon? Since when did you have that card?"

"I found it in an alley about ten minutes ago. There wasn't anyone else there, but I felt an unusual presence coming from this card. For some reason I couldn't bring myself to throw it away, so I decided to keep it. I'll have my mom look it over to make sure it's safe."

That sounded all too familiar to the black-eyed teen as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a Yugioh card of his own. "So I wasn't the only one who found a card in an unusual way today," he said slowly as he showed it to his partner. It was a Stardust Dragon. "I found this in an alley as well. Kind of strange that it was just lying there in pristine condition. It wasn't even damp from the rain."

This was very suspicious for the duo as they stared at the two dragons. If felt like someone _wanted_ them to find these cards, but for what purpose? The strangest part was that they both felt a connection between the respective dragons, almost like they were meant to meet.

"Something tells me we'll have to wait to get an answer on this," Kazuto said finally as they pocketed their cards back into their coats. "Who knows? Maybe they'll come in handy later."

"Maybe," Frank replied before gazing into the distance. This heavy downpour reminded him of a terrible incident in that floating iron castle, one that he still has yet to find closure for.

As if reading his mind, Kazuto said, "It's not your fault on what happened to Issei. I went through a similar experience with Sachi and the Moonlit Black Cats. I'm sure he'd want you to move on."

Frank bit his lip and balled his fits as he stared at the grass below him. Even hearing the name of his deceased friend, one of the few friends he had ever made in the death game, threatened to bring out tears. "I know that," he choked out with a sob. "But I promised I'd protect him and I failed. I…I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. Plus I almost killed you in my anger."

Issei was a solo player who was working to join the Assault Team. Kazuto had only a few interactions with the guy, but aside from flirting on anything with a skirt, the former Beater could tell that he was a good guy. That was what led to Marth deciding to help the upcoming player level up and they became good friends. Issei was also aware that Marth was a Beater as well, but he never really cared. In fact, he was actually happy that one of the strongest players in SAO was taking him under their wing.

From what he could remember, things were going well for Marth and Issei for about a month until disaster struck. An info broker had told them about this new dungeon on a floor far from the front lines that supposedly had a good reward when cleared, so the duo decided to investigate. Kirito also tagged along because he wanted to check it out himself. Little did they know that this was a trap set up by the PoH, the leader of Laughing Coffin, himself.

Somehow PoH had managed to trap Marth and Kirito into a pit full of monsters, separating them from Issei. Thanks to their high levels, the Darkness Duo was able to fight their way out and quickly hurried to rejoin their missing third party member. After searching the entire dungeon, they finally found Issei in the final room, desperately trying to fight PoH off, who seemed to be enjoying himself by toying with the weaker player. As if the game itself was against them, multiple high-level monsters then spawned in, refusing to let them pass.

Marth and Kirito had fought like madmen trying to break through their ranks, only to watch in horror as Issei's HP hit zero. As he died, Issei had mouthed something to the Dark Swordsman, either cursing him or saying goodbye, before shattering into blue polygons. That was when Kirito saw something that truly frightened him. Marth, who usually remained level-headed regardless of the situation, practically exploded with anger before clashing with PoH himself. It was almost like Marth was possessed by something. The fight only lasted for a few minutes before the leader of Laughing Coffin retreated.

But that was the least of the Black Swordsman's worries as Marth ended up turning his sights on him. He could never forget those bloodred eyes that were filled with fury and hatred. It took everything Kirito had to fight his best friend off while trying to calm him down. Eventually he was finally able to get through to Marth, who was both confused and horrified. Marth ended up crying in his partner's arms.

Even to this day, Kazuto held no ill will towards his partner's actions. He did, however, hate PoH for putting him and his best friend through such an ordeal. Supposedly the PKer had threatened the info broker into luring players into that dungeon for a few days. It was only a coincidence that his next victims would be two members of the Assault Team. There weren't any more cases after that as the top guilds declared that dungeon off-limits to avoid future cases. That was also what would later motivate Marth to investigate the location of Laughing Coffin's base for the Assault Team so they could stop the murder guild once and for all.

"It sucks that we were never able to find PoH," Kazuto said finally. "He wasn't even there during the raid on Laughing Coffin's base. I'd love to get some payback for everything he's done."

"Me too," Frank agreed, his tone laced with venom.

"Speaking of which, how did you find Laughing Coffin's base?"

"Argo. Apparently a player had told her about a possible location on where Laughing Coffin's base was, but how they knew was a mystery. She couldn't verify if it was true because she was afraid that it was a trap." He then let out a groan as he recalled the memory. "You would not believe how hard it was to convince her to tell me that info. She was really adamant on not telling anyone."

Kazuto nodded in acknowledgment. "I don't blame her. Argo was one of the good info brokers. If it wasn't true or within a player's skill range, she wouldn't sell certain info to them. I bet she was really worried about you when she finally spilled."

"Yeah, she was. After I got back from investigating the location and confirmed that the base was there, I met up with her and she called me a reckless idiot, several times in fact. I think she even hit me once or twice."

The Graphite Edge player chuckled in amusement but suddenly took on a more confused look. "That raises the question though. Who was it that told Argo the location on Laughing Coffin's base? Could there have been a traitor in their ranks?"

Frank looked puzzled as well. "I don't know. Supposedly the player was wearing a mask and never told her their name."

That was certainly suspicious to Kazuto. He felt like he was on the cusp of figuring out something huge but he then dismissed it.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually," he said slowly. "Hey, how about we have a Tag Duel over in Shinjuku? We might even get a good view from the observation deck at the government office."

Frank agreed with his partner's idea so the two headed out for the nearest subway station.

* * *

**Later**

After taking the pedestrian walkway that stretched out underground from Shinjuku Station's west exit toward the government building, the duo jumped onto the elevator that went directly to the observation deck on the top floor. There was a digital floor-number display on the wall that changed rapidly as the concrete turned to glass.

"Whoa," Kirito said in awe as they continued their ascent. "That's a lot of gray."

"That's to be expected with this storm going on."

"True."

As the duo ascended further up, they noticed mist clinging to the glass, making it near impossible to see the outside world. Soon the elevator decelerated—giving a feeling of floating—before finally stopping, along with an announcement that they had arrived. Beyond the doors, the world was dyed a uniform white.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building stood at a height of five hundred meters and was the tallest building in central Tokyo. It did take some damage during the Demon War, though luckily it didn't collapse, but over time the government was able to restore it to its former glory.

"Neat," Kazuto commented as they stepped out of the elevator. "We're practically inside the mist now."

There didn't seem to be any people here, though that was expected given the weather. The duo then reconnected to the global net as they had previously disconnected because it was dangerous going into a duel while on the road. The Shinjuku Ward is the territory of the Blue Legion, Leonids, so if their connection stayed on, it would only be a matter of time before they were challenged by other Burst Linkers.

Frank opened his Brain Burst controls to make sure he was teamed up with Graphite Edge. This was how tag duels are supposed to work, but there have been instances where other players got dragged into matches, though it only seems to happen if the players have a history with either side. Why that happened though was a mystery.

"Maybe we should have come here during the evening," Frank voiced. "The city would probably look like the Milky Way from way up here."

"Yeah. Too late now though."

Even now, Kazuto was impressed with how Brain Burst works. The program hacks into the nationwide social camera net to create its Field, with its range even extending to the Okinawa prefecture, which wasn't even connected to the main island. However, there were exceptions to this, like the Imperial Palace, which has completely separate security systems that can't be accessed from the outside. Citizens and tourists weren't even allowed to enter the premises. Even in the Unlimited Neutral Field, there was an original magic-castle structure instead of one based off of the Imperial Palace.

Kazuto's thoughts were interrupted as a familiar screech assaulted his ears and his vision went black. Automatic acceleration. Which means some Burst Linkers in the Shinjuku area had just challenged him and his partner to a duel. In the center of the darkness burned red, flaming text reading: "Here come new challengers!"

The Black Swordsman smiled in anticipation; a sentiment shared by the half-demon. However, both of them failed to notice that a certain green-haired girl was watching them, or more specifically, the Dark Swordsman.

* * *

Kuroba and Fuko were heading towards Frank and Kazuto's apartment building, with both girls carrying overnight bags. They had spent most of the day together at the Black King's apartment to make up for lost time, but with how lonely it gets there, Fuko had the idea of them both spending the night at a certain half-demon's apartment. Kuroba was a little flustered at the idea, despite having stayed there multiple times, but she called Rias, who gave her approval.

"Is there a reason you want to spend the night at my boyfriend's place?" Kuroba questioned in suspicion, her lotus necklace seen prominently around her neck. "One could take that as you having a crush on him."

Fuko let out a giggle in amusement. "I won't deny that Frank is certainly attractive, but I can assure you that I have no feelings for him. Am I not allowed to make friends with my master's beloved?"

Kuroba's face became beet red. "B-beloved?! We're dating, not engaged!" she exclaimed in protest. "It's way too soon for such terms."

Fuko formed a mischievous smirk as she took in her Legion Master's embarrassment. "Well I think it's appropriate. It's very clear that you love Frank dearly. He's the one you wish to spend your life with, isn't he?"

Kuroba bit her lip as she couldn't come up with a response. She should've known that the brunette would pull this eventually. Fuko loved teasing her friends, the Black King being no exception. Kuroba could force the Sky Raker player to stop by threatening to use the Judgement Blow, but that was too extreme for such a thing. All she could really do is bear with it.

Suddenly a strong breeze blew past the girls, catching their hair. It felt warm and damp, but also a little unnatural. They decided to pick up the pace and get to the apartment as quickly as possible, only for Kuroba to bump into a tall purple-haired woman.

"Sorry, ma'am. I wasn't…" Kuroba said as politely as possible, who turned to face her with piercing red eyes. The Black King then felt on-edge as she felt an unusual presence coming from her.

Time seemed to stop before the woman simply smiled. "No, it was my fault. I was…reminiscing about the past." She reached into her pocket and pulled out two cards. "Here. Take these as my apology. Something tells me that these cards belong with you."

Both girls looked at each other in confusion. The cards in question were two dragon cards from the Yugioh card game, but neither of them actually played it, much less had decks of their own. It was certainly strange that a total stranger would give them cards that they couldn't even use. The first card had a black dragon that was covered in red rose petals. Fittingly, its name was Black Rose Dragon. The second card was very different, with it having a white and blue dragon with green crystal-like wings. It was called Clear Wing Synchro Dragon.

However, both girls felt a mysterious presence coming from the two dragons, almost like they were calling out to them. Slowly, but surely, they reached out and took the cards from the woman, with Kuroba choosing Black Rose Dragon and Fuko selecting Clear Wing Synchro Dragon.

"Why are you giving us these?" Fuko questioned. "What's your objective here?"

The woman simply smirked. "I just thought I'd give two nice girls some cards I've been collecting," she passed off. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must be going." She then walked off, not once looking back.

It was quiet, save for the rain, until Kuroba finally broke it. "That was…bizarre. Something tells me there's more to this than she's letting on."

"I agree. What should we do with these cards? Toss them?"

As much as Kuroba wanted to do just that, she couldn't bring herself to say it. It was as if something inside her soul was screaming at her to keep Black Rose Dragon.

The Black King let out a defeated sigh. "No. Let's have Rias examine them. I'm sure she'll be able to find if there's something amiss with them."

"Very well," Fuko acknowledged. "Then let's go."

The two girls continued their way towards the apartment, unaware that the woman from earlier was watching them.

_"Excellent,"_ Scathach said to herself. _"Now there's only a few cards left."_ She pulled out a Yugioh card that contained the image of a pale dragon with blue eyes. _"Just a little bit longer, Blue Eyes. Soon your mistress will be ready for you."_

* * *

Marth and Kirito were battling the level 5 Frost Horn and the level 4 Tourmaline Shell, who were active members of the Blue Legion, Leonids. Since the Darkness Duo were only level 6, there wasn't much of a difference in terms of numbers, but their opponents had most likely been Burst Linkers longer than them. However, Kuroba herself had said that when it comes to battle experience, her partners were even, if not superior to the Seven Kings of Pure Color, and that was because of the _quality_ of their experience, which was mostly comprised of fighting in a death game for two years.

The stage they were on was the Primeval Forest stage, which was covered in massive trees, with several ropes of ivy hanging down. There were even a few pterosaur-like silhouettes soaring leisurely above them. This stage also had critters, small animals, and enormous carnivorous beasts as well, with the latter occasionally attacking players whenever they crossed paths. This meant that players needed to have solid strategies if they want any chance of winning on this stage.

Marth was fighting Frost Horn, an avatar with light blue heavy armor and large horns growing from his forehead and shoulders, while Kirito was fighting Tourmaline Shell, an avatar clad in sharp bluish-green armor. The Black Legion members had ambushed their opponents from above, taking advantage of the little sound their Spriggan wings make as they fly.

"Wolf and Graphite have this fight in the bag," one player from the Gallery commented. "They're the best tag team in the Accelerated World."

"Don't be ridiculous! Frost and Shell can still turn this around."

_"I doubt that,"_ Tin Writer thought to himself as he adjusted his glasses. _"No one in the Accelerated World is a match for the Darkness Duo."_ He then noticed a light-green haired girl garbed in white off in the distance, paying close attention on the duel, or more importantly, someone. _"So Marth's caught the attention of that rogue AI now? I shouldn't be surprised."_

Suddenly Frost Horn readied his thick arms at his sides. The hard horns growing on his forehead and shoulders took on an intense light.

"Frosted Circle!" he shouted, causing rings of bluish-white light to race outward with a whoosh, covering everything in its path in white frost. The speed and range were most players couldn't avoid such attacks, however, neither Marth nor Kirito were normal players.

Without saying a word to each other, the black duo swung their right swords before finally resting them on their shoulders, smirking all the while. Their black swords then gained a blue light effect as they activated the seven-hit skill Deadly Sins. The swordsmen proceeded to slice through the rings with ease. Not a single ring managed to touch them.

"No way!" Frost Horn said in shock, his armor caked in frost while his horns were surrounded in a thick layer of ice.

"How can you guys cut something moving that _fast_?!" Shell exclaimed.

Kirito simply chuckled. "Simple. High-speed special moves are nothing compared to bullets fired from an anti-material rifle."

Frost Horn let out a growl before he charged at the duo with a vicious shoulder tackle, right shoulder first. Marth and Kirito lowered their stances and waited for the perfect moment to evade and counterattack.

"Haah!" Marth flew to the right while Kirito went left.

Since they had managed to stop the special attack, neither swordsmen were covered in dense frost, which would have slowed them down with the added weight, they were able to successfully evade Frost Horn's charge attack and slash his legs with his swords.

"Gah!" Frost Horn shouted as he lost his balance and hit the grass, face first.

Frosted Circle's main effect was increasing the weight of the extremities of any duel avatar within range, interfering with swift, small attacks but also increasing the power of large, one-shot attacks. It also had a few secondary effects as the special attack made it extremely difficult to see any distance, effectively shutting down any sniper attacks and the cold rendered any thermal homing useless.

Marth noticed that some frost was gathering on his sleeves. He may have avoided the rings themselves, but the intense cold Horn was generating would eventually cover him and Kirito in frost. Tourmaline Shell would be the only exception as any ice that coiled around his armor would melt the instant it touched him. This was because the gem-colored avatar could continuously generate heat as well as use electricity. This made him the perfect partner to Frost Shell.

Tourmaline Shell readied his sword with both hands, thin sparks crackling as they crawled along his arms, and came after Graphite Edge in one fluid movement. He launched single close-ranges attacks, but Kirito managed to block them all with his swords.

With his avatar being based on graphite, Kirito's defense stat was abysmal. Even a regular attack could inflict a good amount of damage on him if he wasn't careful. Luckily, thanks to his high speed and reaction time, he could act as a decent dodge tank. However, his HP was slowly draining because of the electricity from Shell's Electric Heat Palm. Kirito had no way of defending himself from such a technique.

"Sei!" Marth shouted as he repelled Shell's sword away from his partner, knocking the opponent back a few feet.

"Change of plans. I'll take Shell. You handle Horn."

Kirito nodded in agreement. "Got it. Good luck, partner." He then hurried to deal with their other opponent.

"Black Wolf, I've always wanted to fight you," Shell said eagerly. "Let's see how strong the Black King's protégé really is."

Marth took a battle stance, his right sword by his side and his left in front.

"Very well. But don't blame me if you lose." Lunara and Solaris began crackling in purple lightning before the Dark Swordsman began trading blows with his opponent.

Meanwhile Kirito was finding it increasingly difficult to evade his opponent's horns, with him getting hit a few times. Apparently, the longer Horn remained in the Frosted Circle, the longer his horns would get. If this continued, then Kirito would run out of HP long before Horn would.

_"I guess this is what I get for not choosing my opponent on enemy territory. I thought I could take it easy for a while before fighting seriously. Looks I need to go all out from the start."_

With all the damage he's taken, his special-attack gauge was half full. That more than enough for what he needed.

"Lights out, Wolf!" Kirito shouted to his partner, who simply smirked in anticipation.

"I was waiting for you to say that!" Marth exclaimed as he parried Shell's sword.

Suddenly Kirito was surrounded by a dark aura, making Frost Horn uneasy.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Horn said in fear.

"Don't just stand there, Horn!" Shell retorted. "Stop him before he can unleash his special-attack!"

Frost Horn nodded and prepared to tackle the metal player again. However, the moment his horns were nearly in striking range, Kirito had shouted the name Shadow Dome, causing the area to be surrounded by a black dome, making everything inside it go dark. Horn kept going though but soon came to a screeching halt when his opponent disappeared.

"What the hell? Where'd he go?!"

Marth had also disappeared, prompting Frost Horn and Tourmaline Shell to regroup while examining their surroundings. There was an eerie silence as well.

"Did they run away?" Shell questioned slowly.

Suddenly two bestial howls could be heard. The howls seemed to come from everywhere. The scurrying of footsteps could also be heard, footsteps that didn't sound human.

"Oh crap," Frost Shell said in fear as he realized what was going on.

Two wolves suddenly emerged from the shadows, one black and the other white, and pounced on the Blue Legion members. Horn tried to defend himself from the white wolf with the horns on his head, only for them to shatter when it made contact with the wolf's stomach. A similar thing happened to Shell's sword when he tried to stop the black wolf from biting his throat. Once the wolves had secured the humans within their maw, they tossed them to the side.

"C-can't we talk this out like men?!" Frost Shell exclaimed as the wolves slowly approached him.

"Do you feel like talking, partner?" Kirito, the white wolf, asked.

"Nope," Marth, the black wolf, replied.

The wolves then finished off their opponents by combining their Howling Thunder and Howling Shadow attacks. Once the Blue Legion members had disappeared, the dark dome vanished, and Marth and Kirito returned to their human forms.

"Another win," Marth said with a smile as he and his partner bumped fists.

"Never had a doubt," Kirito added as several of the players in the Gallery cheered for them.

They were then returned to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in the real world. In order to avoid any other challenges, they both disconnected from the global net. Even though burst points were the only thing on the line, Kazuto did feel some mental exhaustion. Back when he first started Brain Burst, if he ever went all out in a duel, he would find himself mentally exhausted. However, his tolerance for it has been slowly increasing as he continued dueling to increase his level.

"It's getting easier," Frank said suddenly. "I doubt we'll be able to fully overcome the mental exhaustion we get from playing Brain Burst, but at least now it doesn't leave us totally drained."

"Yeah. We have to keep getting stronger. That's the only way we can protect our friends."

Suddenly they heard the sound of someone clapping. They turned around and saw a green-haired girl walking towards them. "That was quite the duel, Black Wolf, Graphite Edge," she said smugly. "Or should I say, Marth and Kirito."

Immediately the SAO Survivors were on-guard as they eyed the girl in suspicion. "How do you know our names?" Kazuto said coldly. "Who are you?!"

Frank let out a gasp as he remembered seeing her the night Kuroba and Fuko were reunited. "Wait a minute. Have you been watching us for weeks?"

The girl simply smirked as she brushed her hair with one hand. "No, I've been watching _you_ , Marth, for the past few weeks," she corrected. "How's your _condition_ going? Any progress on finding a cure?"

The boys were shocked yet again. "You know about Frank's deterioration?!" Kazuto said in disbelief. "Just who are you?"

"You may call me C.C."

**To be continued**

* * *

**And C.C. finally meets Marth! There were a few people that speculated that it was C.C. from Code Geass, and they are correct (although she has different origin story and doesn't have the power of Geass). Scathach (just to clarify, she's based off the one in Fate: Stay Night) also seems to be making her move, by giving Marth and his friends Yugioh cards?! I'm actually excited about that as there are few things those cards can give me when it comes to future chapters. Anyway, I'll see you guys next time!**


	33. The Mysterious C.C.

**May 22nd, 2057**

Kuroba was frustrated. When she had heard from Rias that Frank was heading home with Kazuto, she didn't expect them to be bringing a girl as well. Deep down, she knew that her boyfriend wouldn't cheat on her, but the way C.C. constantly glanced at him made her more than a little on edge. Although, the Black King wondered why C.C., the rogue AI that somehow managed to get into Brain Burst, had such an interest in Frank.

She, Frank, Kazuto, Meg, Fuko, Rias and C.C. were all gathered in the living room. It was quiet for a while before one of the group finally broke it.

"So, C.C., where are you from?" Meg asked, trying to break the ice.

The greenette didn't answer as she took a sip from her tea that Rias had made for everyone. From what they could tell, her body was robotic, but she had the body functions of a human, meaning she could eat and drink.

"Are you going to answer or not?" Kazuto said in annoyance.

"Not really," C.C. said casually.

"I suggest you reconsider," Rias said coldly. "If you are a threat to my children, then I won't hesitate to destroy you." As if to back her statement up, the demoness summoned a red magic circle in her right palm.

Despite the threat, C.C. simply smirked. "I'd expect no less from a demon lord." Rias let out a gasp. "Yes, I know who you really are. I know a few other things too, like the Remnants and the identities of the Alfheim Warriors."

"What? But how?" Fuko questioned in shock. She was right to be as only a handful of people on Earth knew about the existence of Remnants and the identities of the Alfheim Warriors. It was worrying that this girl knew about them too.

"I have my ways." Suddenly C.C. paused as she glanced to the side. "Are you serious?" she murmured to herself before letting out a groan. "Fine, but I'm only telling them just a small part of who I am." She turned towards the others and said, "If you must know who I am, I am C.C. As you can tell, I'm not a human or monster, but an AI. I'm probably the most advanced AI on the planet."

Kazuto folded his arms as he leaned into his couch. "Well you're certainly able to hold a conversation with us just fine. Who made you?"

"Not telling."

Kazuto let out a groan in frustration at the AI's refusal to cooperate. "Figured as much."

"How about you tell us why you're so interested in Frank?" Kuroba said coldly, making it more a demand than a question.

"Because he's a rather interesting person. So much power, so much potential, and yet he hides it all behind a mask, a human facade. Ever since I saw a glimpse of that power back when you fought that coward, Dusk Taker, and Black Vise, I have been very curious on where Frank's path will lead."

"So you have been watching my brother ever since we defeated Seiji," Meg said slowly.

"Correct," C.C. confirmed before locking eyes with the male half-demon. "You should feel honored. It is rare for someone to catch my interest."

"Gee, thanks," Frank said sarcastically. "So how exactly did you get into Brain Burst anyway? Kazuto and I can just barely get through the encryption."

To absolutely no one's surprise, C.C. said, "Secret."

"This is getting us nowhere," Rias concluded. "She's clearly intent on not revealing much about her."

"Correct. Now where's the shower? I may not sweat like you all do, but I can still get dirt and grime on me."

"Hallway, first door on your right."

C.C. said thanks before walking off.

"Well that was useless," Kazuto said in annoyance. "Kuroba, Fuko, do you know anything about that girl?"

"Not really," Fuko said sadly. "All we really know is that C.C. is able to duel Burst Linkers and can enter and leave the Unlimited Neutral Field at will. The thing is, you can't challenge her yourself, _she_ is the one who issues the challenge because her name doesn't appear on the matching list."

"Seriously?!" Meg exclaimed. "That's just like Seiji!"

"There has to be a reason for that," Frank spoke up, catching everyone's attention. "Could she possibly have a connection to the creators of Brain Burst?"

"Possibly," Kuroba agreed. "If she has a connection to the creators, then that would explain how she got into Brain Burst and why she doesn't show up on the matching list. Unfortunately, with how stubborn she is, I doubt we'll ever find out if it's true."

"Yeah," Kazuto added, nodding in agreement. "But that still doesn't explain how she knows our real identities as the Alfheim Warriors or Rias being a demon lord."

"Indeed," the red-haired demoness spoke up as she eyed the hall in suspicion. "We'll need to keep a close eye on her." She then turned to her son. "By the way, you said in your message that you had something to show me. What is it?"

Frank remembered about the Yugioh card he found earlier and pulled it out. "I found this in an alley today," he explained as he handed the Galaxy Eyes card to his mother, unaware that both Kuroba and Fuko gasped when they saw it. "I could sense some kind of latent power within it and found myself unable to throw it away. Could you check to see if there's anything suspicious with it?"

"Can you do the same with mine too?" Kazuto then pulled out his Stardust Dragon card and gave it to the demoness. "I found this the same way as Frank."

Rias stared silently at the two cards for a solid minute before setting them on a magic circle on the coffee table. She then reached her right hand out, closed her eyes, and began chanting in an unknown language. After another minute had passed, the circle changed from red to blue and disappeared before she finally opened her eyes, which were full of surprise.

"It can't be," Rias said in shock. "There's no way."

"What's wrong, Rias?" Meg asked nervously.

The demoness went quiet as she debated on how to explain her findings. "As you all know, back in the Era of Beginnings, there were many sacred beasts that roamed the lands, but they were all killed during the war against Zeta. The creature responsible for that genocide was a shadow beast called Nidhogg, the Destroyer. Not even Critias, the King of Dragons, could match that serpent's power. To make matters worse is that we couldn't even kill that monster to avenge them, only seal it away in an unbreakable seal. It was just too powerful for us to slay."

Frank lowered his head in sorrow. "So that's how Critias died. But what does these cards have to do with the sacred beasts?"

"Because these cards contain the souls of those creatures," Rias explained. "Somehow, as if by some divine intervention, some of the sacred beasts have been reborn as the creatures on these cards."

The teens gasped in shock at what they heard.

"Are you serious, Rias?!" Kazuto nearly shouted. It sounded way too bizarre to be true. There's no way an ancient creature from long ago would be reborn as a Yugioh monster.

Kuroba locked eyes with Fuko and came to a silent agreement. They both pulled out their cards, the Black Rose Dragon and Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, and revealed them to the others. Naturally, this surprised the others.

"Wait, you two have Yugioh cards too?" Frank questioned.

The Black King nodded in confirmation as Rias took their cards and confirmed that both Black Rose and Clear Wing possessed the souls of sacred beasts.

"How did you find these?"

"A woman we bumped into on our way here gave them to us," Fuko said. "She told us that she felt that those cards belonged with us."

Rias pursed her lips as she pondered what she had heard. "I have heard stories of sacred beasts forming bonds with people, in fact Critias was a strong supporter of this as it helped both parties grow stronger. But still, how would this woman possess these cards? Can you tell me what she looks like?"

"Well, she had long purple hair and red eyes," Kuroba recounted as her mind flashed to the woman in question. "She also had an unusual aura around her, like she wasn't human."

The demon lord lowered her gaze at the two cards in her hand. Such a description sounded very familiar to her, but why? Her eyes then widened as she came to a realization.

_"It can't be,"_ Rias said to herself. _"Scathach?! She's in Tokyo too?!"_

She had detected a mysterious teleport somewhere in Tokyo, but when she went to investigate, she didn't find anyone there. To complicate things further, whoever was behind the teleportation made sure to not leave any sort of trail, making it impossible for Rias to track them down. She hadn't told her son and his friends about her findings as she didn't want to worry them, but she made sure to keep tabs on them just in case the culprit attacked them.

If the woman that gave Kuroba and Fuko these cards was indeed Scathach, then that meant that none of them were in any danger. However, Rias was puzzled on why the Queen of Shadows was on Earth to begin with. She was well aware that her old friend had no love for humans and only fought in the War of Light and Shadow so she could face strong opponents that could potentially kill her. It was Scathach's job to protect the gates of Eternus and ensure that no dark beasts—the wild creatures that inhabited it—would escape and attack other worlds.

_"Could she be here out of concern for Frank and Kazuto?"_ Rias wondered. From what she could recall, Scathach was a very strict mother to Zane and his Kirito, as well as her daughters, Uathach and Eydis, the latter sadly losing her life during the war against Zeta. Sure she still cared about them, but Scathach usually kept to herself during the war effort when her foster sons entered the fray.

Unless it had something to do with Altena. During most of her childhood, Rias had spent an immeasurable amount of time with the demon princess, but there was another friend she had. A woman who had killed so much that she was cursed with living. A woman who would become the gatekeeper to the dark lands and jailor of the dark beasts. This, of course, was Scathach.

Scathach was there on the Tailtein Plains when Altena was killed by Zarc. The very act nearly drove the lance-wielder berserk and proceeded to wipe out anything that dared to cross her path. She had even heard Altena's last words to Rias, the tearful statement of looking after Zane and Lucia for her.

It has been many years since Rias had seen the Queen of Shadows. She hasn't even attempted to reach out just to have a simple conversation. She was afraid to. Part of that fear stemmed to the possibility that Scathach had died over the long years, but the main reason was that Rias was nervous about seeing the toll time had took on one of her oldest friends.

_"Looks like I have no choice but to talk to her now,"_ Rias declared. _"I need to find out what she's up to."_

"Uh, Mom," Frank said nervously, "are you okay?"

Rias snapped out of her thoughts and realized everyone was looking at her in concern. "Oh, sorry," she said slowly, trying to keep a normal tone. "I got lost in thought for a moment. Anyway, I don't detect anything dangerous from these cards. I think it's safe for you all to keep them."

"Okay," Kazuto said as they all retrieved their cards. He then examined his Stardust Dragon card closely. "I wonder what we can do with these cards. How awesome would it be if we could summon like they do in the anime?"

Frank let out a light chuckle in amusement. "That would be pretty cool."

"I agree," Kuroba added. "I can't help but feel like these cards will come in handy."

Meg, on the other hand, let out a heavy sigh. "I wish I had my own dragon," she said in disappointment. "I'm really jealous."

"Don't worry, Meg," Fuko said reassuringly as she hugged the girl from the side. "I'm sure you'll find yours soon. I'm quite curious to see what yours will be."

It was at that time that C.C. had returned to the living room, wearing nothing but a towel, much to everyone's surprise.

"Are you all done talking?" she questioned, almost sounding bored.

"Gah! Could you at least put your clothes on?!" Kazuto nearly shouted, trying to not look flustered.

"I would except I put them in the wash. I haven't cleaned them in a week."

Frank let out a groan in frustration before glancing at his sister. "Meg, do you think you can lend C.C. some of your clothes?"

"S-sure," Meg replied hastily. "We look about the same size, plus it would be wrong to have her stuck in that towel until her clothes are ready." She then locked eyes with the AI. "Is that okay with you?"

C.C. simply shrugged in response. "I won't refuse your offer. Lead the way."

The Emerald Fencer player nodded her head before standing up and leading the greenette to her room. After a few moments of silence, Rias finally spoke again.

"Frank, I'm heading out for a bit," the demoness said slowly, as if unsure how to phrase her sentences. "There's something I need to check out."

The male half-demon eyed his foster mother and nodded in acknowledgement. "Okay. Do you need any help?"

"No, I'll be fine on my own." She then forced a smile. "I am a demon lord after all. Besides, I need you to keep an eye on this mysterious AI." Rias eyed the other teens. "Can you all help Frank with that?"

"Sure," Kazuto replied. "I was hoping to spend the night here anyway. I just need to get some stuff from my apartment real quick."

Rias simply nodded before she headed out. It was time to catch up with an old friend.

* * *

Arcanos and several of his lieutenants were gathered around a table for a meeting. One was the sixth demon lord, Lucius, a demon who only sided with Zarc because of his duty to their homeland. The next was none other than Lisbeth, the former member of the Alfheim Warriors. Arcanos was quite proud of himself for managing to convince such a skilled person into his ranks.

The third person was a person no one would have expected to be here. He had fought and lost to the Darkness Duo two times. The first was at the top of the World Tree in Alfheim Online, where they put a stop to his experiments on the human soul. The second time was when he ambushed them outside the hospital where Asuna and Yuuki were at. He was none other than Nobuyuki Sugou. It was by pure luck that Arcanos had come across the man who should still be in prison but somehow Sugou had been warped into their base ten years ago. How this happened, the demon still didn't know, but it was quite easy to convince the human to join him as all he had to do was promise that Sugou could get his revenge on the ones who ruined his life's work.

The fourth person was the orc, Blados, who still didn't trust him, which mattered little to the demon lord as he only required the orc's strength. Finally the fifth person was someone that Arcanos trusted, one of the few that have earned such a privilege. In a pale duel avatar was a human girl who went by the name White Cosmos. She was also the president of the Acceleration Research Society.

Morgan was the only one who wasn't present and that was because Arcanos did not trust the demon-fairy at all. He could never tell what was going on in her head, and that's what kept him on guard when around her. Despite this, the sorceress has proven her usefulness but once that ends, he needs to make sure to dispose of her properly this time.

"Arcanos," Lucius spoke up in a formal tone, snapping the red-haired demon from his thoughts. "What is the purpose of this meeting? Have you located Zarc yet?"

"Not yet, but we are closer than ever before," Arcanos explained. "Until recently, we've been scouring the whole world looking for our fallen king, but we never found even a trace of him anywhere. However, according to Morgan's latest findings, we believe that Zarc may actually be inside the Unlimited Neutral Field of Brain Burst."

The others, aside from Cosmos, were surprised by the news.

"Are you serious?" Suguo questioned, sounding skeptical of the idea. "But how did he end up in there? Last I heard, Zarc and his mech crashed in the ocean during the Demon War."

"That is what we all thought," Cosmos took over. "However, the Research Society has come up with a theory that Zarc might have gotten sucked into a time rift, causing him to be sent into the future and trapped within the Accelerated World, where he has spent years attempting to recover from the wounds he had from his battle with the Dark Swordsman."

Blados simply scoffed as he folded his arms across his chest. "That sounds ridiculous. How could Zarc have come across a time rift and end up in the virtual world? That's impossible."

Cosmos appeared unaffected from the orc's remark and nodded her head in acknowledgement. "It certainly sounds hard to believe but Morgan has confirmed that Zarc's essence is indeed within the Accelerated World. I've had my accomplices look around the Unlimited Neutral Field but we're having trouble locking on to his location. It's almost like the creators of Brain Burst themselves are interfering with us."

"Really?" Sugou said with some interest as he rested his chin on one hand. "I thought Brain Burst's creators didn't interfere with what happens in the Accelerated World."

"They don't but that's the only explanation we have for why it's taking us so long to find Zarc. Luckily I have a hunch on where to look next. However, I need to wait for the perfect opportunity to wait and check to see if I am correct."

Arcanos smiled with pride. "Excellent as always, Cosmos," he said with energy. "Once again you have proven yourself quite useful to our cause. It won't be long until the Demon King returns."

Cosmos simply smiled back. "It is a pleasure to aid the second strongest demon lord with his desires," she answered back. "The Research Society has reached incredible strides thanks to you and your allies. It is only fair I repay you in kind."

"Speaking of which, have you analyzed the thing I gave you?"

"Yes, and it is as you feared," Cosmos confirmed as she pulled out a small vial of red and black blood. "Marth's blood is powerful, but the ether energy inside it is causing the cells to deteriorate. We don't have any way of purifying it so we can't use the Dark Swordsman's blood to break the seal."

Arcanos sighed with disappointment as he leaned back in his chair and rested his chin on his left hand. "A shame. I had hoped that the trap we sprung in Okinawa wouldn't go to waste, but now it seems it has if we can't even use Marth's blood to further our goals."

Blados simply grunted in response. It was that very trap that nearly killed him as well as the Darkness Duo. Had it not been for the Dawn Remnant, he wouldn't be sitting in this room. Arcanos had made it very clear through his actions that he viewed the orc as expendable, which was rather irritating to Blados.

"I wouldn't say that," Lisbeth suddenly spoke up, causing all eyes to face her.

"What do you mean?" Lucius questioned in a skeptical tone.

"We might be able to use Marth's blood for another purpose, one that will be very beneficial for us." She then said her idea, which caused all but Lucius and Blados to sneer.

"My, my, that is very devious," Sugou said, sounding impressed. "I wouldn't have thought have that. Cosmos, can it be done?"

The pale avatar was silent for a moment before answering with, "It is possible. I'll have to start testing at once, but we may only have a few chances to try this since we have a very short supply of Marth's blood."

"If we need powerful blood for our main goal, why can't we use Morgan's?" Blados voiced. "She's a demon-fairy, so her blood should be pretty potent. Wouldn't that be enough?"

Arcanos simply shook his head. "I have considered that possibility but Morgan's blood will not be enough. We need blood directly connected to either Celestia or Sinestra and it has to be at a certain potency. Morgan's blood just isn't at that level."

Sugou let out a discontented sigh. "Well that's disappointing. Was there anything else we needed to discuss. I have a _patient_ who is being very stubborn that I'd like to punish."

The "patient" the false god of Alfheim Online was talking about was a person who suddenly appeared inside the base just a few weeks ago. The "patient" had some interesting feelings towards Sword Art Online and the Assault Team, mainly the Darkness Duo and Klein's guild. While he did want revenge against them for some unknown reason, he adamantly refused to side with the forces that nearly destroyed Tokyo. Since Sugou had knowledge on how to manipulate the emotions of people, he and the Acceleration Research Society have been working to manipulate the "patient" so that they can use him against the Black Legion, Nega Nebulus.

"Actually yes," Arcanos said, perking up as he reached into his coat pocket. "Since Rias has finally made her move and sided with the half-breed, I feel it is time to distribute these." The demon lord then pulled out six cards and showed them to the others, surprising most of them.

"Are you insane, Arcanos?!" Lucius protested. "Those creatures are shadow beasts, just like Nidhogg. They're nearly impossible to control. If we unleash those, we could destroy ourselves, not just our enemies."

Lucius was right to be concerned. The cards that Arcanos was holding with one hand were Yugioh cards, but they all contained shadowy creatures with varying colored lines around their bodies. They were none other than the Earthbound Immortal cards, cards that were based off of the Nazca Lines in the real world and were essentially incarnations of evil. Unbeknownst to the current era, there was a time where those creatures walked the earth as shadow beasts and were used by Zeta during the War of Light and Shadow. They were all incredibly powerful, however, they were all eventually destroyed by Critias, the Dragon King, and the divine beasts, but then they would meet their demise by the hands of Nidhogg, the strongest of the shadow beasts, in turn.

Blados looked concerned as well, mostly because of his distrust over Arcanos. "I agree with Lucius," the orc added. "The Earthbound Immortals are indeed powerful, but they are also very dangerous. I've heard stories that they can take control over people they form contracts with at any time. Is there a contingency to prevent that from happening to us?"

"These cards are tamer than the original Earthbound Immortals," Arcanos explained. "This means they aren't as powerful, but that lowers the chances of them possessing us. Now then, time for these cards to choose their masters." He held up the Yugioh cards, which then began emitting a shadowy aura.

After a few seconds, five of the cards left the demon's hand and floated over to the other members. The spider immortal remained with Arcanos while lizard immortal went to Lisbeth. The hummingbird card chose White Cosmos and the monkey immortal went to Sugou. Finally, the orca card went to Blados while the giant immortal went to Lucius. Everyone in the room felt an incredible power dwelling within the Yugioh cards they held.

White Cosmos smirked as she stared at her Aslla Piscu card. "Now this will definitely come in handy. I can't wait to see what it's capable of."

"Careful, Cosmos," Arcanos warned. "We need to be careful when we use these cards. We don't want to catch the attention of Rias or something else."

Lucius raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What are you talking about?" he questioned before his eyes widened in realization. "Wait, do you mean Scathach? But she should still be in Eternus keeping the dark beasts in check."

"That is true, but you forget her connection to the Twilight and Night Remnants," Arcanos replied. "It wouldn't surprise me if Rias would contact Scathach to help protect them or if Scathach came to Earth on her own accord."

The other male demon lord had to agree with his leader. Rias would definitely contact the Queen of Shadows to protect her adopted son. Since Altena is dead, there aren't that many powerful allies the Crimson Sorceress can call upon. Anthiese, the Queen of the Fairies, and one of the strongest sorceresses in existence, holds disdain for demons, plus it is very unlikely that she gave Rias a way to contact her.

"Now then," Arcanos continued. "I believe that's everything we needed to cover for this meeting. You're all dismissed."

All but Lucius and Blados then left the room. The orc was about to leave as well until he noticed the blonde demon was staring at his own Earthbound Immortal card. He seemed lost in thought. If it was anyone else, like Arcanos, Blados wouldn't care about it, but he was on relatively good terms with the other male demon lord as Lucius actually respects him and sees him like an equal, unlike Arcanos who treats the orc as a simple pawn despite him being a high-ranking member in the Shadow Army.

"Something wrong, Lucius?" Blados questioned.

"Sort of," the demon replied hesitantly. "I feel uneasy about these Earthbound cards. Are they really safe to use?"

The orc simply shrugged. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "I wouldn't be surprised if this was just another of Arcanos's schemes to kill the Twilight Remnant. At the end of the day, we're all his pawns."

Lucius found himself in agreement with his friend. The only reason he was here was out of a sense of duty and revive the Demon King, even if that king is a usurper. Unfortunately, the true ruler of Eternus is dead and most of the remaining demons won't accept a half-blood like the Dark Swordsman as their next ruler. When he joined the Eternian military at a young age, Lucius swore his eternal allegiance to the throne, but once again, he felt conflicted about this conflict, something he hasn't felt since the War of Light and Shadow.

Suddenly he heard the roar of a dragon within his mind. The sound briefly surprised him before he realized what it was and pulled out a Yugioh card with a black and purple dragon on it. It was none other than the Galaxy Eyes Tachyon Dragon. Lucius could sense that his dragon was reacting to something as the card was surrounded by a blue aura, but what? Blados also noticed the aura.

"What's with your dragon?"

Lucius looked puzzled. "I don't know. I've never seen Tachyon react like this before." He then let out a gasp as he realized what had happened. "It can't be. Has the Photon Dragon finally joined its master?"

"The Photon Dragon?" Blados questioned in confusion, before his eyes widened. "Wait, are you saying that…"

The demon lord simply nodded his head. "Yes. It seems that the battle between the galaxy dragons draws near." Lucius cracked a content smile. "This is something I've been waiting for over the past millennia. I wonder which dragon will reign supreme."

"Yours, obviously," the orc replied. "You're one of the most powerful demons in existence and you control the Tachyon Dragon. No one can match your combined might."

"I appreciate your words, Blados, but I don't think it will be as easy as you think," Lucius said calmly. "If the Photon Dragon's master is who I think it is, then this will probably be my hardest battle yet."

Blados was surprised by the demon's words. With Altena dead and Anthiese still in her realm, he didn't think anyone other than Zarc or Arcanos could match the blonde demon's strength. Of course, there was still Rias, Morgan and Scathach, but the two sorceresses didn't have dragons of their own and Scathach should still be in Eternus as its gatekeeper. To hear Lucius say that this battle may be his hardest one yet was unnerving to say the least.

"Who do you think its master is?" Blados questioned slowly.

Before Lucius could answer, he felt a strange presence from outside the room, almost like it was listening in on their conversation. When he looked out the doorway, he could faintly see the shadow of someone there. "Who's there?!" he ordered loudly, surprising the orc as his voice boomed in the air. "Show yourself!"

While he didn't hear any footsteps, the shadow quickly disappeared without a word. Despite this, Lucius maintained his guard.

"Was someone eavesdropping on us?" Blados asked skeptically as his guard was raised too.

"I think so," Lucius answered. "I couldn't tell who it was though. It seems that even this place isn't safe for us to lower our guard."

* * *

The figure had ducked into an empty room, far from where he had overheard Lucius and Blados talking. He had black hair and piercing purple eyes. He wore a black cloak with a high collar, which also had gold trimming, that went down to his knees, a black and purple long-sleeved shirt, black gloves and pants, as well as leather boots of the same color. He looked around eighteen and appeared rather scrawny, but he was much older than he looked. He was none other than the half-demon, Lelouch Lamperouge.

Lelouch let out an exhausted pant. That was a close call back there. He didn't think that he could mask his presence from the blonde demon lord for very long, but he wanted to see if they would talk about Arcanos's plans. Of course, he was lucky to even join the Shadow Army in the first place. It was very clear that most of the monsters here didn't trust him due to him fighting on the other side during the War of Light and Shadow.

Despite this, however, Lelouch was determined to complete his mission for the Queen of Shadows. While he may be serving Arcanos now, his true allegiance was to the Twilight Remnant and the girl he held dear. He wasn't able to protect them during the final battle in that terrible war so long ago, but he refused to make the same mistake again. This time, he will protect his friends.

_"Watch out, Arcanos,"_ Lelouch thought bitterly. _"We won't let your plans go through. We will stop you."_

* * *

**Later**

With it getting dark outside, Frank and the others decided to call it a night, with him and Kazuto going to the former's room while the girls went to Meg's room. However, when the boys entered their room, they saw a certain greenette lying on the bed.

"C.C.? Why are you in here?!" Frank demanded.

"I told you earlier that I'm curious about where your path leads, so I'm not letting you out of my sight," C.C. answered. "So I'll be sleeping here with you until further notice."

"What?!"

Both Frank and Kazuto facepalmed. "This just gets better and better," the Black Swordsman said sarcastically. "Do you really need to sleep, C.C.? You're an AI, right?"

"Even AIs need sleep," the greenette chided before stifling a yawn. "Now then. I'm sure you two won't mind me sleeping in the bed. Good night, Marth, Kirito."

"Hey, wait!" Kazuto voiced but C.C. just ignored him as she went under the covers and fell asleep.

Frank let out a defeated sigh. "Guess we're sleeping on the floor tonight," he said slowly.

The half-demon retrieved another blanket from the linen closet in the hallway and laid it down on the bedroom floor. He and Kazuto then changed into their wolf forms and curled up onto the blanket. As he tried to fall asleep, Frank found himself wondering how C.C. seemed to know so much about him and his friends. Just who was she?

* * *

Rias was staring at the clear night sky from the park. She was in the very same clearing where she had found her foster son almost eleven years ago. The demon lord's familiars had detected an unknown presence in the area, which prompted her to investigate. She was no longer wearing her civilian attire and had changed to her combat gear but has since abandoned the mask. If her hunch was right, then it should be…

"Well, well," a female voice spoke up, sounding confidant. "I had a feeling you'd find me eventually, especially with me revealing myself to the Dawn Remnant like that."

The Crimson Sorceress turned to her right and saw a figure emerge from the shadows. She had long purple hair and piercing red eyes. She wore a black and purple skintight suit, black gloves and heeled boots, small silver shoulderpads, and appeared to be around thirty years old but she had a presence of someone much older. In her right hand was a wicked red spear that was almost the same height as her. It was none other than the cursed spear, Gae Bolg, a weapon that has slain both mortals, demons and beasts.

"Scathach," Rias said calmly.

The Queen of Shadows simply smirked. "It's been a long time, old friend. We have much to discuss."

**To be continued**

* * *

**Sorry that this chapter really didn't advance the story all that much. I wanted to focus a bit on C.C. and what's going on with the villains in this chapter since I haven't done a lot of that. Plus there was bit of writer's block that made writing this slower. Things should pick up in the next one. Anyway, I'll see you guys next time.**

**Btw, Lelouch and C.C. have different backstories, like C.C. not having the power of Geass. Just thought I'd put in this disclaimer.**


	34. The Hermes' Chord

**Okay, before we get started with this chapter, I need to notify you all on some retcons I'm making, some are minor, others not so much. Minor stuff first and that's Scathach having two daughters instead of one. One is Eydis, who died in the War of Light and Shadow while the older sister, Uathach, is still alive and is living in Eternus. I've already fixed the previous chapter with this updated information. Next I am retconning Shiro Hagino. He doesn't really add anything to the story and if I had the plans I have for Rias back when I started writing this, I would have kept her single.**

**Now for the major retcon, and it involves the Remnants. Originally when I was still writing Dark Swordsman 2 and XC2 Bonds, I envisioned a multiverse where certain characters were counterparts of each other (ex Kuroba and Mythra are both Dawn Remnants and have a fragment of the same soul, Celine). However, with the plans and ideas I have for this story, it is getting really hard to keep this idea as it kind of makes things really complicated since it implies that there are multiple versions of characters like Rias. Because of this, I am changing Remnants from instead of being fragments of souls, to simply reincarnations but without the skills and memories of their previous lives and Remnants will be exclusive to the SAO universe, along with Zane and the events of the War of Light and Shadow, meaning Mythra is no longer a Dawn Remnant. Over time, I will go back and change previous chapters to fix this new canon (although, I probably won't touch Dark Swordsman 2 or Bonds just to save me a headache and time, but I am planning to rewrite Bonds anyway as I am not proud of that story at all).**

**I feel that I should apologize for this but it is kind of my own fault for using such an idea in the first place. Anyway, with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

**May 22nd, 2057**

Rias simply stared dumbfounded at her old friend. Her hunch was actually right. That teleportation she had detected weeks ago was indeed done by Scathach, the gatekeeper of Eternus. After revealing her true identity to her foster son, Rias had thought of contacting the Queen of Shadows and Witch of Dun Scaith to acquire additional help, but she ended up deciding against that. Scathach, although very powerful and could rival most of the six demon lords, had a very important job. It was well known in the land of shadows that Scathach was once a human, a human with a gift for killing. She was so skilled at killing, whether it be humans, demons, fairies, even divine and dark beasts that the gods inflicted the curse of living upon her. The curse made Scathach immortal and nearly impossible to kill as she could recover from even serious wounds with enough time. However, one goddess decided to use Scathach's skills to protect the land of her children. This was none other than Sinestra.

While Sinestra couldn't remove the curse by herself, she offered a way for Scathach to use it for her own advantage, which was to keep the dark beasts in check and serve as the gatekeeper of Eternus. The Witch of Dun Scaith happily accepted as she not only saw this as a way to challenger herself, but also a way to see if there was anything strong enough that could end her cursed life. While she wasn't a demon, she commanded the respect of the shadow race as well as their fear. In fact, it was because of her reputation that led Scathach to meeting Rias and Altena. However, that all occurred in a bygone era. There's no telling what the passage of time was on her friend.

After spending a few moments thinking of what to say, Rias said, "Scathach, why are you here?"

The Witch of Dun Scaith simply chuckled as she twirled her lance with one hand. "We haven't seen each other for several millennia and _that's_ the first thing you say to me," she said with a smirk. "Though, I suppose it is a fitting question given my duties. I've come to Earth because I've heard rumors about Arcanos plotting something big back in Eternus. I want to learn what that traitor is up to and stop him."

"But why? From what I heard when I awakened thirty years ago, you've never interfered with the mortal world before. Not to mention that you have no love for humans. Why are you choosing to help now?"

Scathach lowered her head and looked away, her eyes containing a brief glimpse of sorrow. "Because of the Demon War," she replied slowly, causing Rias to gasp. "Yes, I know about that war. I knew about Zarc's return and his plot to destroy this world as revenge against the Twilight Remnant, Altena's son. However, despite the pleading of my eldest daughter, Uathach, I chose to not to interfere. I came to regret that decision when I saw Za—I mean Marth—lose control over his powers and ravage this city, accidently killing hundreds, if not thousands, including the previous Dawn Remnant, Yuuki. It got me thinking that maybe if I had joined the war, then that terrible event could have been stopped."

The Crimson Sorceress looked at her friend in sympathy. "I know the feeling," Rias admitted. "I was just awakening from my long slumber when the Demon War was coming to a close. I also find myself thinking about what would happen had I been able to join the war.

The lance-wielder let out a forced chuckle. "We're certainly an interesting pair. We both failed to protect Altena's children when they needed it the most. I'm sure she's disappointed with us right now."

"Maybe, but it looks like we're both trying to do better," Rias replied. "Ever since the Okinawa Incident, I've always kept my guard up in case Arcanos tried something against my son. I will not make the same mistake again."

Scathach cracked a light smile at hearing her friend's declaration. She had known that Rias had adopted the Twilight Remnant roughly eleven years ago and treated the boy as if he were her own. This was also reflected with the Dusk Remnant. Of course, Scathach would be lying if she said she herself hadn't felt the temptation of taking the Dark Swordsman under her care, similar to what she did back in the War of Light and Shadow. When she had seen the boy through her magic, she always found herself feeling some motherly affection towards him. However, had she have taken him in, she would have been far stricter and more ruthless than Rias ever would.

"As do I," Scathach agreed. "Which is why I'm here now."

"Speaking of which, is it safe for you to be out of Eternus for this long? Won't the dark beasts start infiltrating other worlds without you there to stop them?"

"I left my gatekeeper duties to Uathach and Cu Chulainn. They've both grown to be quite powerful over the millennia so I know that they can handle it."

Rias simply nodded in understanding as she remembered seeing those two in action during the War of Light and Shadow. Uathach was Scathach's eldest daughter, who unlike her younger sister, Eydis, had survived that terrible war. While her mother taught her to be proficient with most weapons, Uathach always preferred using rune magic. Cu Chulainn, however, was quite interesting. Similar to Scathach, Cu was originally an ordinary human and was her apprentice. He proved to be very tenacious and held a lot of potential. He even earned the right to wield a replica Gae Bolg forged by Scathach herself.

However, while Cu Chulainn was powerful as a human, even he struggled during the war against the God of Darkness, Zeta. He ended up getting gravely wounded during the Battle of Tailtein. The only way to save him was to perform a risky ritual to turn him into a half-demon, using Altena's blood as the catalyst. Then, as if Sinestra herself interfered, the ritual was successful and Cu Chulainn was reborn as a half-demon, granting him a faster healing rate and immortality. Naturally the ritual made him stronger as well, but he still struggled when it came to defeating his mentor in a full-on battle.

"I see," Rias said slowly, her arms folded across her chest. "Now for my next question. Where did you get those dragon cards and why did you give one to Marth?"

Scathach was silent for a moment as she thought about her response. "I found those cards scattered around both Eternus and Arun," she answered. "Some wizard showed up at my fortress telling me about them and asked that I deliver them to their masters. It took some time for me to track the dragon cards down, especially in Arun since we're not exactly welcome there, but I managed to get them all. I've then been spending the last few weeks discreetly delivering them to their rightful owners. I now have only a few of them left, one of which is for Lucia's Remnant."

The Crimson Sorceress's eyes widened in shock. She knew Scathach could be bold at times, but she never thought that she would go to Arun, the land of fairies, for a strange request. Plus she wasn't even done delivering the dragon cards. Rias couldn't help but wonder what they were. However, that also created another question.

"You say that a wizard showed up at Dun Scaith," Rias pointed out skeptically. "Who was he?"

Sadly, Scathach could only shake her head. "I don't know," she said honestly. "He never said his name, but I could tell that he was not human. He had this unusual presence, almost like he wasn't fully there. If you need a description, he had long white hair, a white cloak, and a strange black staff. He also had a strange connection to flowers. Does that sound familiar to you?"

Rias pursed her lips as she pondered over the information she was given. She didn't know anyone who could fit that description, even in the Era of Beginning. The flower comment was weird, but Rias assumed that it could be some sort of nature magic she hadn't heard of. Could he have come into existence after the war against Zeta? If so, what is his agenda; was he a friend or an enemy?

She stifled a groan. Now she really wished that Anthiese on their side. The Fairy Queen has been around throughout the ages, keeping watch over her domain and staying out of mortal affairs. She would certainly have more connections that Scathach does, meaning Anthiese would probably be able to uncover this wizard's identity. Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that the Fairy Queen will ever help the demon lord. Her disgust towards demons was well known, especially after what Zarc and his radicals had done to her people. Anthiese is not someone who will let go of the past so easily.

"We'll deal with this wizard at a later time," Rias decided. "Have you learned anything about Arcanos's plans?"

"Unfortunately, no," Scathach said grimly. "I have Lelouch working as my spy within that traitor's group, but he hasn't been able to make a lot of progress. Arcanos is very determined to keep his plans secret."

Rias was surprised that Lelouch had returned as well. In order to protect their slumbering selves from being attacked by vengeful radicals, both Rias and Lelouch agreed not to exchange information on where they would seal themselves away. However, the Crimson Sorceress found herself regretting that decision when she had sensed Arcanos's return roughly fifteen years ago. She barely had any potential allies from her era left. The fairies would never come to her aid due to their vendetta against demons and most of the demons dwelling in Eternus won't help the demon lord as well since they'd rather keep to themselves. To hear that Lelouch was awake and has teamed up with the Queen of Shadows was a much-needed blessing.

"I see. Has he learned anything though? Even the smallest thing would help."

"Hmm… Lucius has cast his lot with Arcanos, but that's not a big surprise. That fool always let his pride as a knight bind him. Next, apparently the Acceleration Research Society has acquired someone who possesses a hatred for the Darkness Duo and plan to use him against them. I don't know this person's name though." Scathach hesitated for a moment as she thought about the last details from the half-demon's latest report. Both would be quite a shock to her old friend, but she needed to be told about this.

"Lelouch then told me that Arcanos has distributed cards that contain the powers of the Earthbound Immortals," the purple-haired woman said grimly.

As expected, Rias was rendered speechless by the news. Every demon knew about the Earthbound Immortals and their terrible power. They were some of the dark beasts that managed to evolve and become shadow beasts. It was well known that the Earthbound Immortals preyed on those overcome with negative feelings like revenge and anger, forcing those victims into servitude and eventually claiming their souls. They became so much of a threat that the gods themselves had to intervene and seal them away. However, Zeta would later break this seal when he began his war against humanity and recruited them into his army. It took the power of all the divine beasts, including Critias, to finally slay the Immortals.

But now the gods are gone, either slain by the God of Darkness or had returned to the divine realm, never to return, as are the divine beasts, who were all killed by Nidhogg. If the Earthbound Immortals are unleashed again, then they are on their own. However, there were the divine weapons that Zane and his allies used during the war. Lunaris was one of these weapons and was reunited with its owner, albeit in a different form. Having those weapons would definitely make a difference if the Earthbound Immortals are released. Unfortunately, most of the divine weapons were lost after the War of Light and Shadow, not to mention that Marth doesn't know the full power contained within his swords. The only weapon Rias knew the location of was Lucia's rapier, Mercurius, which the demon princess had left in a ruined temple back in Eternus before disappearing. Once Meg has awakened her demon blood and brought out her true self, Rias will need to take the half-demon to reclaim her former life's sword.

"But that's not the worst of Lelouch's report," Scathach continued, her eyes becoming deadly serious. "Zarc is alive."

"What?!" Rias shouted in disbelief. "But that's impossible. Even he couldn't have survived that terrible attack from Marth."

"I don't know, but that false king is still alive. Apparently, he's somewhere within the Accelerated World. It's highly possible that someone trapped him there and is keeping Arcanos and his allies from finding him."

More questions and ones that aren't likely to be answered anytime soon. Regardless of that, Rias will not allow anything to befall her children and their friends. Plus if Zarc is indeed still alive, then that means she can avenge Altena, her oldest friend. It still shocked the sorceress that the False Demon King could actually kill the true ruler. Could Zarc have done something to weaken Altena during their battle on the Tailtein Plains?

 _"Altena,"_ Rias thought in sorrow as she looked up at the starry night sky. _"I really wish you were here. We need all the help we can get."_

She then turned her gaze back onto the Queen of Shadows. "Scathach, would you like to meet Marth and Kazuto?" she offered.

Scathach felt a wave of nostalgia upon hearing the names of the reincarnations of her foster sons. She would love to meet them properly, maybe even train them like she did for Zane and the original Kirito.

"Of course," the Witch of Dun Scaith replied with a nod. "I've managed to evade Arcanos's attention for this long, but I know it won't last. Besides, if he knows that I'm here, he'll have to be even more careful. With our combined might, we should be able to keep Marth, Kirito, Kuroba and their friends safe."

Rias couldn't help but smile with joy. "Thank you, Scathach. It's good to have you back."

The Queen of Shadows returned the gesture. "Good to be back."

* * *

**The Next Day- May 23rd, 2057**

Frank, his friends, and C.C. were gathered around the table, with them all eating breakfast. The half-demon questioned if the android could even eat human food but C.C. confirmed that she could consume it as an alternate means of sustaining herself. As usual, she didn't explain how she could do it, but Frank just assumed that her robotic body was advanced enough to do so. Rias had left for work early in the morning and didn't explain why she left last night. She did, however, tell her son that if he needed help, all he had to do was call.

"So, Frank," Kuroba spoke up. "I heard you and Kazuto had a tag duel against the Leonids in Shinjuku."

Frank simply chuckled as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Word sure travels fast."

"I saw that duel," the greenette spoke up. "You and Kirito put up a good fight."

"Uh, thanks."

Kuroba narrowed her eyes at the android and promptly scooted closer to her boyfriend. She really didn't like the interest that C.C. had for the Dark Swordsman and wanted to make it very clear that she doesn't want the greenette making any moves on him.

"Hey Kuroba," Meg spoke up, catching the Black King's attention. "I've been meaning to ask you this. Why did you join the student council?"

"Mmm. Well. Given my desire to reaching level 10, your question is a very good one. The administrative things and conferences do take time and leave me no time for dueling. I've had to really manage my time well so I could do my training with Frank and Kazuto." Letting a meaningful smile slip across her lips, Kuroba continued. "But, to answer honestly, the reason I became a council member was all for Brain Burst."

Meg's eyes widened in surprise. She didn't expect that answer. "What?"

"Think about it. For a Burst Linker, the school that you attend is the closest to you, and thus, the most dangerous field. You could even say that having a grasp of all that information and firming up the ground beneath your feet is essential. As a student council member, I have nearly full access to the school database. Speaking of which…" Kuroba turned to her protégé and grinned. "It's a shame that you, Kazuto and I are graduating this term. I would love to see you run for president."

Frank let out an amused chuckle as he leaned in his chair, arms folded across his chest. "Yeah, like anyone would even vote for me," he replied with a slight grin. "I'm the school freak remember. I'd be luckily to secure even a third of the votes."

"It's weird that this will be our last school year together," Meg added. "Have you looked at any colleges or made any plans for your future, Brother?"

"Not really. I've been too busy training and gathering burst points. Besides…" Frank lowered his head and stared at his open palm. "With my deterioration, I don't know how much time I have left. Arcanos and his allies are still out there. I need to dedicate every second I can spare to get stronger and stop them."

The younger half-demon felt a slight pain in her chest and inwardly cursed at herself. Because of Fenrir's Core Crystal, her brother was slowly dying of ether poisoning due to it not mixing well with demon blood. If he stopped using his Blade Eater powers, he could probably live for a few more years, but that would be optimistic and very unlikely. When Arcanos finally puts his plans into action, Frank—no, Marth—would be forced into action and use those forbidden powers to stop him, potentially causing his demise.

For a brief moment, Frank let out a pained grunt as he almost keeled over. It was another one of his pain flashes, a symptom of his deterioration. Luckily Kuroba caught him before he could fall off his chair and pulled him into a hug. She whispered something softly to him as she rubbed circles on his back.

 _"This isn't fair,"_ Meg thought to herself as she clenched her fists so tight her fingertips turned white. _"My brother has spent his entire life suffering. Why is the world constantly against him? What did he do to deserve this fate?"_

A black aura enveloped the girl, catching both Fuko and C.C.'s attention. Both girls looked surprised when Meg's eyes briefly became a bloodred while her hair turned pale white, almost like snow. The aura quickly vanished, causing Meg's hair and eyes to return to their normal brown color.

 _"Interesting,"_ C.C. noted as she observed the female half-demon. _"It looks like this one's blood is already stirring. All it needs is the proper trigger."_

Meanwhile Kazuto was being very silent as he was browsing through the internet with his Neurolinker. Out of curiosity, he decided to look up "social camera export". At the top of the result list was a news item titled: "Japanese security system introduced to Hermes' Cord". The security system was obviously referring to the social camera technology. As for Hermes' Chord, it was the name of a space elevator above the eastern Pacific Ocean.

He clicked on the link with one finger and began reading the article. In summary, the security system for the space elevator, which is an international facility, had adopted the same technology as the Japanese social network.

The Earth-side station for the space elevator was in the coastal waters of Christmas Island, which was very far away from Japan. If social cameras were set up there, could Brain Burst reach that place as well? He'll need a second opinion on this, specifically from someone who's played Brain Burst longer than him.

"Hey, Kuroba. Can you take a look at this?"

The fairy noticed that she had a notification of receiving a file from Kazuto. She made sure Frank's breathing was stable again before pulling away to open the document. It was the article Kazuto had just read.

"Japanese security system in Hermes' Chord? I think I remember hearing about this yesterday." She glanced over at the Black Swordsman and cocked her head to one side. "So what's this about?"

"Well, when I read this, I got an idea, but I want to make sure I'm actually correct," Kazuto explained calmly. "If this article is correct, then that security system is the social camera technology. If that's the case, then wouldn't that put the entire space elevator in the Pacific within the range of the cameras? Because of this, I was wondering if the Hermes Chord would show up in the Accelerated World."

Kuroba's eyes almost looked like they were about to pop out of her head. Kazuto braced himself for her to burst out laughing and say that such an idea was ridiculous. However…

"Hmmmm," the Black King hummed, placing the fingers of her right hand on her chin and stared at the article. Eventually, she lifted her head and lightly shook it. "What can I say? It's an interesting idea."

Kazuto didn't know how to react. Then the most unlikely person decided to answer.

"Assuming that social cameras have been set up there, that would normally be a closed net," C.C. explained. "However, that raises the question if the Hermes' Chord central station has the extra space and power to accommodate that enormous image processing system. Either way, connecting with the SSSC in Japan with a satellite circuit and having them process the data would be much more efficient, not to mention cheaper. In that case, there is the possibility that Brain Burst could slip past those defenses."

Meg let out a groan as she struggled to understand what the greenette had said. "Um, I don't get it," she interjected.

This time Frank was the one to speak up. "Basically, C.C. is saying that Hermes' Chord is a low-Earth-orbit space elevator, so the design is incredibly pared down."

"Low Earth orbit?"

Frank released a heavy sigh. "Oh, great. This is gonna be a pain." He cleared his throat with a light cough and opened a blank window. At the bottom, he drew a circle with one finger and wrote "Earth" in the middle of it before showing it to the group.

"We'll start with the basics. To put it simply, for a space elevator—also called an orbiting elevator—you build an extremely tall tower from the surface of the Earth into space, then you use an elevator to move people and materials. The transport cost by weight is very low, making it a much better option than launching a rocket or using shuttle. However…"

The Blade Eater drew an enormous cylindrical tower that shot up from the Earth. "Assuming that they used the same construction methods as the Tokyo Skytree, to build a tower that would reach space, the base area would have to be a scale large enough to completely swallow Japan. Constructing such a Tower of Babel like this is impossible."

"Uh, Marth, how do you know this stuff?" Fuko questioned.

The Black Wolf player simply shrugged. "Since I can't join any clubs, whenever I'm not playing video games, I spend some of my free time researching random stuff. This topic in particular caught my interest since it reminded me of the World Tree in Alrest."

"Alrest?" Kuroba spoke up suddenly. "I remember you mentioning that place once. Isn't that where your Artifice is from?"

"Yeah, that's where Siren was built. Of course, it's been inactive for the last thirty years, but it's still here orbiting the planet. Hopefully I never have to use it again."

Both Kazuto and Meg silently agreed. They had witnessed the destructive power of that Artifice first-hand in the Demon War. There's no telling what would happen if it was called into action again.

C.C. cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "While this is somewhat interesting, shouldn't you finish your explanation?" she said impassively.

Frank nodded in agreement and was about to proceed when Kuroba offered to continue in his stead. Seeing no harm in it, he relented and signaled his second partner to start. Kuroba proceeded to erase the tower and draw a small square in space, far from the Earth.

"Since the first option is out, we need to change our thinking," she explained. "We build a station like this in stationary orbit about thirty-six thousand kilometers away from the Earth. We then suspend from there a strong and light-weight cable towards the planet. Since the speed of objects going around in geostationary orbit is basically synchronized with the Earth's rotation, for all appearances, it never moves from that one spot in the sky. Just as the name says, it's stationary. Thus…" She drew a line going straight down from the square and hit the Earth. "If you attach the end of the cable to the Earth, you get a tower like this. Or rather, a ladder that reaches space."

"Whoa!" Meg said in awe. "I think I get it now. But didn't Frank say that the Hermes' Chord is low-Earth-orbit, not geostationary orbit?"

"He did indeed, but it still uses the basic idea as geostationary orbit. The scope is just different. The central station for Hermes' Chord is suspended much lower than geostationary orbit, just two thousand kilometers above the ground. However, it's still outside the atmosphere."

Kazuto held his chin with his right hand as he put the pieces together in his head. "And because its closer, the cable can be shorter and lighter, meaning you don't need anything to balance it. However, there are complications with that as well, but I think that's enough."

"Agreed," Frank added. "It's honestly a headache to sit through. Plus there are other things involving the chord that aren't really important for you to know, Sister. Regardless, let's just say that Brain Burst can infiltrate it and materialize the space elevator within the Accelerated World."

"Space," Fuko muttered quietly. For some reason, she felt that it reminded her of something, something she had long forgotten. However, the feeling quickly faded before she could identify it.

"However, we can't forget that Brain Burst is a fighting game," Kuroba said. "We don't even know if it'll expand its stages that far. There's also the question of how you would get there. As a general rule, we Burst Linkers dive in the place where our real bodies are. In other words, to get to Hermes' Chord in the Accelerated World, we have to get there on this side. They are selling tour packages to the geostationary orbit station, but they're crazy expensive."

Kazuto was tempted to say that they could fly there themselves in the real world thanks to Marth's Fenrir Effect, but it would be a very long flight and would speed up the half-demon's deterioration, not to mention illegal. Flying there from the Accelerated World was out too as their maximum range was at best fifteen hundred meters, nowhere close to Hermes' Chord.

He tossed a look at Fuko. He remembered her telling him and his first partner about her wish to reach the sky. Even now, that passion was still present, except now Kazuto believed that her wish was to actually reach something further beyond, even if she didn't fully realize it.

Despite rejoining Nega Nebulus, Sky Raker was not fully active, with her only participating in the Territory Battles every weekend as one of the standby members. Part of this was because she was confined to a wheelchair, which didn't allow her to run anywhere other than paved roads and level surfaces. She made up for it though when it came to defending positions with her unique fighting style, freely maneuvering her wheelchair and trifling the enemy while attacking repeatedly with sword hands. She was able to keep the sniper Sinon and healer Asuna safe whenever the main force was close-range types.

Compared to the first Territory Battle where Kirito, Asuna and Sinon fought alone and somehow pulled a victory, Nega Nebulus has grown significantly stronger with the addition of the remaining Alfheim Warriors. However there was still a big issue when it came to Sky Raker, and that was her refusal to use her Enhanced Armament, Gale Thruster. Using that would definitely increase her attack power, even without her legs, but Fuko would never summon it.

When it came to prolonged flight, Gale Thruster paled before Graphite, Wolf, Fencer and Fairy's wings. The Enhanced Armament just couldn't fly as long or go as high, despite its output being faster than the acceleration of any avatar. However, a few days after Frank had returned Gale Thruster to its rightful owner, he had talked to Kazuto and Kuroba privately, saying that he felt that there was more power contained in those boosters than they all thought. Since then, the Black Swordsman has been wracking his brain trying to solve it as a way to pay back the one who helped him get his sister's wings back.

 _"The answer must be at Hermes' Chord,"_ Kazuto thought. _"There has to be a way to get there."_

Suddenly a roar echoed in the Black Swordsman's head. He let out a surprised gasp, but no one else seemed to have heard it. He then noticed a blue light coming from a card on the table. It was none other than Kazuto's Stardust Dragon.

"Uh, Kazuto, why's your card glowing?" Fuko questioned as she and the others noticed the light as well.

Kazuto didn't answer immediately as he picked up the card and stared at it. He could feel it calling to him. It wanted to help him.

"I think I might know a way for us to reach Hermes' Chord," Kazuto said firmly.

* * *

"Are you serious?!" Klein shouted in disbelief. "You guys want to go to Hermes' Chord?"

Kazuto had requested a Legion meeting at Dicey's at around noon. Everyone was there, even Rias, albeit she was here on a lunch break. They were gathered around a table, minus Andrew, who was behind the counter cleaning mugs. C.C. was also there, sitting close to the demon that held her interest.

"That would be difficult to do, even in the Accelerated World," Asuna added. "It's just too far away."

"Except you guys are forgetting that Brain Burst is a fighting game," Kazuto continued. "It wouldn't make any sense for it to make a new stage inaccessible. That means there must be a way to reach it, and I think I know how." He brought out his Yugioh card and showed it to his friends, with most of them being shocked at the sight.

"You've got one too, Kirito?" Shino questioned, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"Hold on," Frank spoke up. "Do you guys have Yugioh cards too?"

The others were a little hesitant, but they all agreed to reveal their dragons. Frank, Kuroba, and Fuko showed theirs first. Klein was next and revealed that he had Red Eyes Black Dragon. Shino's dragon was none other than Black Winged Dragon while Andrew's was Life Stream Dragon. Last was Asuna, who was the owner of Light and Darkness Dragon. Neither Suguha nor Ayano had dragons of their own.

"So I'm not the only one without a dragon," Meg commented, feeling slightly relieved.

"Yeah," Ayano said sadly, the topic reminding her of her feathered dragon from the iron castle. "I'm a little jealous. I want a dragon of my own too."

Rias felt a little guilty. Scathach had told her that some of the dragon cards hadn't been delivered to their owners yet as it wasn't time yet. She also promised her old friend that she wouldn't reveal that information just so Scathach would make herself known to Frank and Kazuto. The Witch of Dun Scaith had yet to do so as she was planning to do so tonight.

The Crimson Sorceress did a quick examination and confirmed that each of the dragon cards contained the spirit of a divine beast. This was quite a shock to the remaining Black Legion members. Klein in particular nearly fell out of his seat from the shock.

"Kirito, are you saying that we should try summoning these things and use them to reach Hermes' Chord?" the Red Shogun player asked.

Kazuto simply shrugged. "Sort of. Even a dragon would take a while to reach the Chord, but—and I know this is gonna sound crazy—I can feel Stardust wanting to help us. He might know a shortcut or something."

"Now that I think of it, is it possible for Brain Burst to create portals as shortcuts?" Andrew spoke up.

"It can," C.C. answered with a nod. "But they can be anywhere in the Unlimited Neutral Field."

"Let me guess," Frank deadpanned, "you aren't going to explain how you know this or where they are."

The android smirked smugly. "You catch on quick."

Klein let out a groan as he slouched in his chair. "Oh, great. Does this mean we'll have to search the ENTIRE Unlimited Neutral Field, hoping to find a portal that will take us to Hermes' Chord?"

Kuroba noticed that her dragon card was emitting a blue light, similar to how Stardust Dragon was doing back in the Hagino apartment. "What the?" she wondered aloud as she picked the card up to examine it.

The Crimson Sorceress, on the other hand, let out a gasp. Scathach had mentioned that while the dragon cards did contain the souls of divine beasts, their power wouldn't manifest until they were with their chosen masters. However, the dragons themselves choose when to unleash it for the first time. It seems that both Black Rose and Stardust would be the first dragons to awaken. Strangely, Galaxy Eyes has not even stirred. Was it waiting for something?

"Black Rose Dragon," Kuroba muttered. She could sense her dragon calling to her, offering its help. She then glanced over at the Graphite Edge player. "Kazuto, our dragons might be able to find a portal for us."

Kazuto nodded in agreement. "That's what I was thinking too." He turned his head towards his other friends. "This mission isn't mandatory. Anyone who doesn't want to go is free to stay behind."

"Are you kidding? There's no way I'm missing this!" Klein exclaimed as he caught his fist.

"I want to go as well," Shino spoke up while adjusting her glasses.

"Me too," Asuna added.

Everyone else, except for Andrew and Rias, also voiced their agreements. They both wanted to go as well but none of them knew how long they'd be in the Accelerated World so it would be risky for the two to dive in for long periods during work hours. With that, the Black Legion concluded their meeting. Rias said her goodbyes to her foster son and daughter before leaving to return to her job.

As she walked to the subway station, Rias found her thoughts focused on the dragon cards. _"Just how were those cards created?"_ the demon lord wondered. _"How did that wizard know about them? Or better yet,_ who _is he?"_

* * *

Thorrnn opened her eyes and found herself in the Unlimited Neutral Field. Since the group was all together, they had decided to all dive in the café. The field seemed to be one of the futuristic stages, with the architecture resembling something you'd see in a sci-fi movie. The half demon noticed that her friends were gathered outside, so she hurried to join them. C.C. was there as well as she wanted to continue her observation on Black Wolf.

"So, how are you guys going to bring out your dragons?" Leafa questioned, curious to see them in action.

Kirito scratched his head nervously. "I…have no idea," he said sheepishly, causing nearly everyone else to fall comically.

"Shouldn't you figure that out?!" Sinon argued in slight annoyance. "Time may be accelerated here, but I don't want to waste my time blindly looking around."

"Relax, Sinon," Kuroba said calmly. Her arm swords were retracted, revealing her hands. On a hunch, the Black King opened her menu and selected her inventory. The first item in it was the Mystical Reins Enhanced Armament that Crikin had given her back in Okinawa. However, the second item below it caught her by surprise. It was none other than the Black Rose Dragon card. She selected the item, causing the card to materialize in her hand.

"Kirito, check your inventory."

The Black Swordsman nodded and opened his own inventory. Sure enough, besides his swords, there was an extra item in it. A card containing the Stardust Dragon, which Kirito brought out.

"Interesting," Kirito commented as he examined the card. "I wonder how they got into Brain Burst."

"Magic, probably," Marth guessed as he pocketed Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon's card. "But we still need a way to summon them."

"I know!" Klein called out in excitement. "Maybe we can use a duel disk!"

The others around the samurai simply shook their heads. "Uh, there aren't any duel disks in Brain Burst," Asuna spoke up.

Red Shogun then slouched in defeat. "It was just an idea," he said sadly.

Meanwhile, Kirito was swinging Stardust Dragon around in the air while saying its name, hoping that it would appear from the card. But the white dragon never came out. Kuroba wasn't having much luck either.

"Come on, Stardust," Kirito pleaded. "I really need your help right now. Please come out."

Suddenly a loud, mechanical roar echoed in the air. The roar sounded like it came from a large creature and was very close. The Black Legion, along with C.C., immediately went on guard and examined their surroundings. The ground slightly tremored as footsteps could be heard, getting louder and louder.

"Tch," Marth grunted as he and his friends drew their weapons. "Just what we needed. An Enemy attack."

Sinon readied an arrow and watched the area closely. The footsteps were getting louder. The Enemy knew that they were here. "Damn it," she cursed. "What could this thing be?"

The Dark Swordsman glanced over at C.C., who was right beside him. That was when he noticed the surprise on her face. It was unusual to see her like this.

"No," the greenette said in shock. "It can't be. Not _that_ one." She glanced over at Black Wolf. "We need to leave now. This Enemy is too powerful."

"What are you talking about? What's coming?"

"We don't have time," C.C. argued hastily. "We need to run."

Unfortunately for the android, her warning came too late as a nearby building was reduced to rubble as a large figure burst through it. The figure was large, about twenty feet tall. It was humanoid robot with magenta armor and glowing green eye slits. In its right hand was a black lance with a jagged blue energy blade. There was a powerful presence coming from the Enemy, meaning that it was very powerful.

Now Kuroba and Fuko were just as worried as the greenette.

"No," Sky Raker said in fear. "Not that Enemy."

Seeing the two veterans like this made the remaining Nega Nebulus members nervous, though Marth and Kirito were able to hide it.

"Wh-what is that thing?" Silica asked in fear.

The Black King gritted her teeth tightly as she got into a battle position. "That is Orpheus, a Legend-class Enemy," she explained. "It's one of the strongest Enemies in Brain Burst. Orpheus patrols the Unlimited Neutral Field, attacking any players it sees. Even the Seven Kings choose to avoid it."

"Are you serious?!" Klein said in shock.

"We should flee now," Fuko spoke urgently. "We're no match for that thing. It's practically a god."

"A god, huh?" Marth said softly before eyeing his swords.

A rash idea soon came to the Dark Swordsman's mind. It was stupid and reckless, likely to end up with getting himself killed. Well, at least death in this world isn't permanent. He glanced over at his partners, who seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Orpheus let out a mechanical cry, shaking the earth and scattering dust. It raised its spear and charged at the group, hoping to skewer the Burst Linkers. Thorrnn instinctively closed her eyes and braced for the attack, but it never came. Instead she only heard a loud clash. She slowly opened her eyes and gasped as she saw Marth, Kirito and Kuroba were holding back the spear blade with their swords. However, she could see that they were struggling to hold their ground.

"Brother!" Thorrnn shouted in disbelief. "Kirito! Kuroba!"

"What the hell are you guys doing?!" Klein added, also looking shocked.

Kirito gritted his teeth as his swords and muscles screamed in protest. It was a miracle that the trio was able to stop the attack at all. He could tell from just this one attack that this Enemy was on a totally different level than most of the bosses he fought before. If he had to make a comparison, he'd say that its strength is akin to Floor Bosses from Floor 90 and up or the Fatal Scythe that lurked at the bottom of the dungeon in the Town of Beginnings on Floor 1.

"G-get going!" he struggled to say. He had to put all his energy into his swords to hold back the spear. Just relaxing for one second was too risky. "All of you, run!"

"What?! There's no way we're leaving you three behind!" Asuna argued in fear.

"You have to!" Kuroba cried out, trying to stay as firm as possible despite the ever-increasing pressure she was feeling on her sword arms. "We can hold this thing off for a few minutes. Use that time to get away!"

Klein clenched his teeth in frustration as he tightened his grip on his katana. "No way in hell am I gonna run away to save myself," he declared. "I may not be as strong as you three, but I can still fight."

The samurai charged at the Enemy, katana poised to strike. Orpheus's eyes flashed briefly as it noticed the new opponent. It put more force into its thrust, sending the trio flying into the street before it lunged at Klein. Suddenly a bullet, as well as bolts of wind, fire and ice, struck Orpheus's head, causing it to lose focus for a second. This opening allowed Klein to slide underneath the spear and get close enough to slash the Enemy's ankles. The cuts he made weren't very deep, nor did they inflict much damage on its high HP gauge. Klein then quickly retreated before Orpheus could ready a counterattack.

"You all are a crazy bunch," C.C. spoke up as a white longsword with an ornate black handle materialized in a sheath strapped to her waist and drew it. "Most Burst Linkers would have run away as soon as they saw Orpheus, but not the Black Legion."

"Sometimes I wonder if that's a good thing," Marth said as he and his partners got up slowly. All three of them looked winded from having blocked such a powerful attack. They most certainly weren't in a condition to do that again.

Asuna let out a giggle as she and the other Black Legion members readied for battle. "Depends on who you ask?" Asuna teased.

The chances of victory were slim, very slim, but they were going to give it their hardest. They will teach this Enemy what happens when you cross Nega Nebulus.

"Here we go, everyone!" Kirito cried out. "Let's take this thing down!"

**To be continued**

* * *

**Okay, this was not how I was gonna end this chapter, but it was getting really long, and I didn't want to rush certain elements. Anyway, as my author's note from the top has mentioned, I am doing some major retcons, but let me say what is still canon. There is still a multiverse, meaning Marth is still a Blade Eater, which had come from Alrest, and my stories are still connected to each other in that way. Next, Zeta didn't split his soul in order to thwart death. Instead, he used his remaining life force to inflict a curse that evil darkness will cause suffering to all worlds. Zane disappeared soon after Zeta's defeat, followed up by Celine and Lucia, who both left to go look for him only to never return. I'll try to expand upon this in later chapters and I'm sorry for doing a major change that will likely confuse some people, but this is to prevent future headaches when I will work on future stories. With all that out of the way, I'll see you guys next time!**


	35. Dragon Cry

**May 23rd, 2057**

C.C. didn't understand why she was doing this. She never cared about the Burst Linkers before, so why was she helping a small group of them fight one of the strongest Enemies in all of Brain Burst? It was times like this that she cursed her creator for being right. She had learned about Marth's origins and history from them and that's what drew the greenette to him.

Her curiosity over the Dark Swordsman led her to watch him from afar for weeks before finally making herself known to him. Of course, she did know about Marth's deterioration and that partially contributed to her decision to reveal herself. C.C. herself doesn't know of any possible solutions to save the boy who holds her interest. However, she felt that her creator was keeping some valuable information from her, though the reason remains unclear.

C.C.'s creator rarely gave her orders, giving her a lot of freedom on what she could do. Whenever they did, there was usually a clear reason for it, though there were times where her creator wouldn't share the reason. One such order was for her to avoid the Dead Zone, a cursed area within the Unlimited Neutral Field that has existed since Brain Burst's creation. There have been a few rumors that any Burst Linkers who enter that zone are never seen again. C.C. herself has never set foot there, only observing it from a safe distance. Even from that far away, she could sense something _off_ about that place. While she was curious about what causes the disappearances, she wasn't willing to risk her life over it.

The weirdest order, or request as her creator liked to call it, that C.C. has ever gotten was for her to befriend Marth. It didn't make much sense to her. She's an artificial intelligence, she didn't need any friends. If felt strange that her creator wanted her to make a friend with a person on borrowed time. Maybe she'll find her answer by hanging around the Blade Eater.

C.C. watched as the Black Legion got into formation. Marth, Kirito, Kuroba, Silica, and Klein were up front, acting as the vanguard, their task being to hold the Enemy's attention while attacking it from close-range. Asuna, Sinon, Thorrnn and Leafa stayed in the back as the rearguard, with Lightning Flash's job being to heal her teammates while the other three girls attacked with either bullets or spells. Fuko was there too, but she wasn't contributing to the fight at all. While the terrain was flat enough for Sky Raker to move, there was no way she could out speed Orpheus while confined to a wheelchair.

As for C.C. herself, no one really gave her any orders, so she was free to do whatever she wanted. She could even use Nega Nebulus as a decoy and simply escape. She won't do this, of course, as this was a good opportunity for her to earn Marth's trust.

Meanwhile, Orpheus was continuing its battle with the close-range fighters of Nega Nebulus. The machine swung its lance in a horizontal arc, hoping to hit them all in one attack. Marth, Kirito and Kuroba were able to evade by sliding underneath the large weapon and rushed to counterattack. Klein and Silica, on the other hand, weren't as lucky as while they managed to evade the attack, the tip of the spear did manage to nick them on the chest. The shockwave that was generated from the swing also sent them flying back several feet.

"Crap," Klein cursed as he noticed his HP nearly drop by half while struggling to get up. "Even barely evading that thing's attack causes too much damage."

"What are we gonna do?" Silica questioned as she managed to get on her knees, her dagger still held firmly in her hand. She chest stung a little from the spear's scratch, but it was manageable.

"I don't know," the redhead replied as Asuna used her Hydro Force to restore his and Silica's HP to full. He watched as the Darkness Duo and Black King were somehow managing to hold Orpheus off, with them focusing on evading its attacks and readying counters whenever they saw an opening. Meanwhile Sinon was firing volleys of elemental arrows at the Enemy while Thorrnn and Leafa blasted it with their fire and wind magic.

The trio seemed to be holding their own, but Klein knew that they wouldn't last. It took everything they had to block that initial attack and they haven't had a chance to even breathe afterward. However, Klein refused to just stand back and watch. He may not be as skilled or as powerful as the trio and Asuna, but that won't stop him from fighting.

The samurai got off his back and back onto his feet, keeping a firm grip on his katana. He watched as Orpheus thrusted its lance forward at Kuroba at high-speed. The Black King managed to evade by rolling to the side and rushed at the Enemy. She leapt into the air and struck the magenta-armored robot's waist with the Dual Blades AoE skill, Spinning Totality. Her attack managed to leave two decent gashes in the armor.

Klein couldn't help but be impressed of his Legion Master. Ever since Seiji's defeat, Kuroba has been dedicating most of her free time to her Dual Blades training. Because of his job, Klein could only watch a handful of the black-haired fairy's lessons from the Darkness Duo. However, Marth wasn't doing much of the instructing anymore, instead Kirito has taken that role. The redhead assumed that this was largely because of Rias wanting to teach the Blade Eater about his demon lineage.

What is weird though is that Klein noticed a certain tenacity in Kuroba's eyes whenever she was sparring with Kirito, the same tenacity that the samurai has seen from the Darkness Duo. The eyes of someone refusing to lose or else they would lose everything. It puzzled him to see it. Sure, Arcanos and his organization are still out there, plotting in the shadows, but that just didn't seem to fit with why Kuroba was so determined to finish her training as soon as possible. Just what was her motivation?

Klein pushed those thoughts aside and hurried to rejoin the battle with Silica by his side. Orpheus's eyes flashed as it noticed the duo's movement and readied its lance to strike. However, right before it could attempt to strike, three spears of purple lightning struck the robot's right side. The spears pierced through the armor, the electricity of the attack briefly stunning the Enemy. Orpheus turned its head and glared at the Dark Swordsman.

The light in the robot's eyes flashed in anger as it raised its left foot and stomped at Marth, who jumped back to evade. Orpheus didn't let up and continued its pursuit. It next swung its black spear horizontally, intending to rend the dual swordsman in two. The half-demon let out a grunt as he jumped up, but that was just what the Enemy wanted him to do as its eyes' light grew brighter.

"Oh, crap," Marth cursed as he realized its intention.

He didn't have enough time to bring out his wings as Orpheus fired twin green energy lasers from its eyes. The lasers quickly collided with Black Wolf, sending him crashing into a nearby building. Marth nearly bit off his tongue as he suppressed the urge to scream as pain flared across his body. His vision then became hazy as he collapsed on the street, finding himself in a daze. His HP had taken several hits, especially from that initial block with Kuroba and Kirito, but that laser attack had reduced it to red.

"Marth!" the Black King shouted in worry as she watched the Enemy stand over her boyfriend.

Kuroba pulled her right sword, activating her Death By Piercing special move. She rushed at the robot and struck its left shin, the tip of her sword biting into the armor. Meanwhile Kirito and Klein activated Sword Skills of their own and ran their swords through the other leg. Thorrnn quickly readied a Valflame, the large orb of red flames appearing over her outstretched hand, which was raised over her head. She swung her hand forward, sending her fire spell on a collision course towards the robot. The Valflame struck Orpheus in the back, surprisingly causing it to stumble a little.

Unfortunately, none of those attacks managed to draw Orpheus's attention as it watched Marth slowly get on his knees, using his swords for support. The Dark Swordsman's eyes went wide as he noticed that it was readying another laser attack. His HP was almost fully depleted, if this attack hit him, then he'd die and have to wait an hour to respawn. He had to move, but his fatigue was making it difficult.

"Damn it," Kirito said in irritation. "That thing's dead set on taking out Marth. Asuna, heal him quickly."

"I'm trying!" the Argent Flash player said hastily as she was charging up her Hydro Force, but it was going too slow. She wasn't going to make it in time.

Orpheus fired its eye lasers at the downed swordsman when suddenly a white blur zoomed past the robot and took the energy attack themselves. Marth found himself speechless as C.C. fell backward, right into his arms, while her sword clattered on the ground. The greenette didn't even let out a single scream after being hit by the attack, despite her severe injuries and her charred clothes.

"C.C.," he finally managed to say. "Why did you do that?"

The AI herself struggled to find an answer to the Blade Eater's question as her virtual body ached. One possible reason C.C. could think of was because of her regeneration ability and her immortality. Unlike the Burst Linkers, it is impossible for C.C. to die by losing all her HP. Even in the Unlimited Neutral Field, her HP will never go below 1, and it will slowly restore itself to full over time. This was one of the few gifts her creator had given her when they sent her into Brain Burst. Despite this clear advantage, however, her immortality doesn't prevent her from feeling pain, so C.C. always made sure not to be reckless whenever she fought Burst Linkers.

Could that be why she had taken the hit for the Black Wolf player? Because even if she fought Orpheus, it was impossible for her to die? It was plausible, but for some reason, it didn't really sit well with her.

C.C. silently watched as her burns healed themselves, restoring her pale unblemished skin, as well as her white straitjacket, which patched itself up and returned to its pristine condition, something that took Marth by surprise. The greenette found the Dark Swordsman's surprise to be rather amusing. Kirito and the others had finally managed to divert Orpheus's attention away from the duo, allowing them to relax a little. Asuna, on the other hand, had managed to finish readying her Hydro Force and used it to restore the downed duo's HP. C.C. felt that it was a little wasted for the healing special to be used on her but quickly dismissed the thought as she realized that Asuna isn't aware of her immortality.

"You can heal yourself?" Marth questioned. "Is that why you shielded me like that?"

"Yes," C.C. found herself saying as she sat up. "I couldn't let you die in such a manner, so I decided to take the hit instead. You're lucky I made it in time."

The half-demon was surprised to see the AI acting so passively. Despite this, he could tell that she was slightly grimacing from phantom pains. Even though she was artificial, she was still vulnerable to pain, just like all living things. If he were a cold-hearted person, he could see ways to take advantage of her immortality, but he was not such an individual.

"Thank you," Marth replied. "But please don't put yourself at risk like that again. I don't want to be the cause of any more deaths."

C.C. let out a gasp as she turned to face the demon, her eyes wide as dinner plates. She never expected a thank you, much less a request like that, from him. They were barely even acquaintances so Marth shouldn't care what happens to her.

_"You certainly are one interesting person, Dark Swordsman,"_ C.C. thought to herself.

Their levity was interrupted as the Legend-class Enemy let out another mechanical screech and swung its lance in a downward arc, creating a shockwave that knocked most of the Black Legion off their feet. Kirito and Kuroba managed to quickly recover, only to watch in horror as Orpheus stood before them and prepared to impale them on its spear.

As Orpheus lunged its spear at the duo, it suddenly felt sharp pain in its right knee, causing the leg to buckle. Orpheus then found itself falling on its injured knee, the sudden movement throwing off its aim and causing the energy-bladed lance to miss its mark and instead bite into the metal street in front of Kirito and Kuroba.

"What the?" Kuroba said in surprise before she noticed the slash marks on the Enemy's knee. She then saw Marth and C.C. attacking the downed robot, damaging its armor somewhat with their swords. She suddenly felt a pang of jealousy towards the AI. The greenette has barely been around the Dark Swordsman for even a day and she was already working well with him. She was really starting to not like her.

"Kuroba?" Kirito questioned nervously as he noticed the Black King gritting her jaw tightly in irritation. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said slowly. "I'm just gonna make sure that rogue AI doesn't get any ideas." She then hurried to join Marth and C.C.'s assault on the downed Enemy, leaving Kirito alone.

_"Great, Kuroba's getting jealous over C.C.,"_ the Black Swordsman complained. _"Could this_ not _have come at a better time?!"_

Concerned that his other partner's jealousy could lead to a fatal mistake, Kirito ran after her, and just in time too as Orpheus was starting to pick itself back up. The Enemy fired its green lasers at the charging duo, who simply evaded by jumping in the air before slashing its waist with their swords. Orpheus finally managed to stand back up and swung its spear in a horizontal arc, destroying any building caught in its path. Marth and Kirito summoned their wings in response and grabbed the girls before making a hasty retreat to the rest of their Legion.

"This is getting us nowhere," Sinon said in frustration as she, Thorrnn, and Leafa tried using their long-range attacks to slow the robot down.

"Sinon's right," Silica agreed. "Kuroba, can't you use one of your Incarnate attacks?"

The Black King paused as she pondered over the idea, while her partners joined in on the long-range assault on the Legend-class Enemy, which was slowly getting closer and closer. Kuroba had actually considered using the Incarnate system right when the battle started. Orpheus is an opponent that practically requires a miracle to defeat. She could potentially use her Incarnation to make such a miracle. The only reason she hasn't used it yet was because of the unspoken rule of only using Incarnate attacks when you are attacked by an Incarnate attack.

But Orpheus doesn't care about such rules. Its one purpose is to annihilate any players it sees with no exceptions. Kuroba needs power to protect her friends, more power than she currently possesses. The power to destroy anything that threatened her friends.

Suddenly a loud, earth-shattering roar echoed in the air, but it didn't come from Orpheus. Most of Nega Nebulus were concerned that another Enemy was coming to attack them, but Kuroba remained calm. She knew what had made that cry, creature that wasn't an adversary. She brought out her Yugioh card, which was glowing with a purple light.

"You want to help us?" she asked the dragon. Black Rose let out a brief cry in confirmation.

Kuroba's body became surrounded by an aura of purple light, her hair flapping in a nonexistent gale. Following her instincts, she raised her card skyward, and called her beast's name, "Come to me, Black Rose Dragon!"

Three large green rings appeared directly over her head while the dragon card split into four small white orbs which all flew up and lined up in the center. A pillar of purple light ignited from below, flying straight through those rings and was followed by a gale of red rose petals, prompting everyone else to shield their eyes. When the light finally died down, the rings were gone. In their place was a large black dragon with red rose petalled wings as well as black-thorned vines and tail.

"No way," C.C. said in disbelief, her eyes wide as dinner plates. "That's…"

"Black Rose Dragon," Marth finished.

Black Rose Dragon let out a bloodcurdling roar as it glared at Orpheus. The dragon looked ready to do battle with the robot.

Kuroba looked up at her dragon with pride as her aura faded. "Beautiful," she said with a smile before turning her gaze at the Enemy, who was readying its spear for a charge. "Black Rose Dragon, show me your power. Defeat Orpheus!"

Black Rose roared in acknowledgement at hearing its master's orders. It pulled its head back and unleashed a stream of wicked purple flames at its target. Orpheus raised its left arm to block and groaned as the attack hit its mark. The Black Rose Flare not only destroyed the Enemy's left arm, but its remaining armor was partially melted and was pushed back a few feet. There was no doubt that the breath attack inflicted a lot of damage on it.

"All right!" Klein cheered in excitement. "We're in business now. That thing doesn't stand a chance against us now!"

"Careful, Klein," Marth spoke up as he watched the Enemy carefully. "We don't know what Orpheus is fully capable of. We can't relax just yet."

Kirito had to agree with his partner as he watched Black Rose continue its battle with Orpheus, with the dragon attacking from a distance with either its flames or its thorned vines, avoiding the energy spear. Black Rose seemed to be winning, but he couldn't help but worry that Orpheus could still turn things around.

_"Please, someone, anyone,"_ Kirito said desperately. _"Lend me power. The power to protect my friends."_

He heard a cry echo in his mind, a cry he had heard before. He sheathed his right sword and brought out his dragon card, which was surrounded by a white-blue aura.

"Stardust," he said softly. "Are you saying that you'll…" He paused as he regained his confidence before raising the card skyward. A white aura surrounded his body. "Come forth, Stardust Dragon!"

Four large green rings suddenly materialized behind Kirito, directly overhead. His dragon card then transformed into four orbs of white light before they flew towards the center of the rings and lined up. A pillar of white light shot through the rings and created a strong gust of wind that kicked up any dust in the area. When the light faded, a white and blue bipedal dragon emerged. Its body was releasing a shower of blue stardust, which stopped after a few seconds. Stardust Dragon has entered the stage.

The white dragon let out a terrifying roar, its yellow eyes fixed on the Enemy. Orpheus responded with a screech of its own and readied to charge at the new arrival. It didn't get very far as Black Rose Dragon quickly ensnared it with its vines from behind, the thorns forming small piercings in its armor. The robot groaned as it struggled in vain to break free from its restraints, but the plant-like dragon's grip stayed firm. Even the smallest of movements was agonizing for the Enemy.

Since Orpheus couldn't get close enough to strike with its lance, it opted to use a different attack. Its eyes began glowing with increased intensity before it fired two green lasers at the Burst Linkers. Kirito and the others prepared to evade, but that wasn't necessary as Stardust Dragon got in front of the Black Legion and blocked the attack with its wings. The dragon let out a faint groan as it took the attack.

"Stardust!" Kirito shouted in worry. Both dragons were treated as tamed Enemies, meaning that they had a separate health bar from their masters. Stardust's HP was slowly depleting as the Enemy's laser beams continued. The Black Swordsman didn't know what would happen if the dragon were to die and if he would be able to summon him again, but this wasn't a good time to find out.

_Do not worry about me, my lord._

That voice didn't come from anyone in the Black Legion or C.C. Kirito wasn't the only one who heard it as everyone else reacted in surprise. It sounded very mature and collected.

"Did anyone else hear that?" Fuko questioned.

"Yeah," Klein voiced as he tightened his grip on his katana in anticipation. "Who said that?"

Kirito let out a gasp as he instinctively looked at his dragon. "Was that you, Stardust?"

The dragon glanced at his master and nodded. _Indeed,_ he said in confirmation. _As I said earlier, do not worry about me, my lord. It will take more than this to bring me down._

The Black Swordsman still looked unsure about his dragon's wellbeing, but decided to trust in its words. Everyone else was simply shocked to hear the dragon actually talking. "Okay," he replied, pushing back his own shock. "Then show me your power, and win!"

Stardust Dragon's eyes flashed in acknowledgement. _As you wish!_ Stardust declared.

Stardust Dragon repelled Orpheus's eye lasers by spreading his wings before taking to the sky. He let out a mighty roar as he began gathering silver energy in its mouth.

_Rose, keep it restrained,_ Stardust ordered his fellow dragon.

Black Rose Dragon nodded its head. _Very well,_ she answered calmly.

Once the energy in Stardust reached its peak, he unleashed it all at once as a breath attack. This was his Shooting Sonic attack. Orpheus tried to dodge to the left to evade the blast, but Black Rose's vines kept it firmly in place. The Shooting Sonic hit its mark and struck the Enemy's chest, forcing it on its back. A large explosion erupted from the robot, creating a powerful shockwave that threatened to knock the Black Legion off their feet, with them all having to shield their eyes.

When the dust finally settled, Orpheus was on its knees, badly injured. Rivers of oil leaked out of its body, wetting the metal ground.

"No way," Kuroba said in shock. "Even after fighting two dragons, it still managed to survive.

Suddenly Marth let out a gasp as he noticed that all of Orpheus's wounds were starting to close themselves, its groans slowly gaining more power and its armor repairing itself. "Crap," he said bitterly. "That thing's got a regeneration ability. All the damage we inflicted on it are going away."

"Seriously?!" Klein exclaimed in outrage. "That's so not fair. We struggled to even land a scratch on Orpheus before Stardust and Black Rose showed up, and now its undoing _their_ attacks. Who the hell thought this was a good design choice for an Enemy?"

"The creators of Brain Burst, obviously," C.C. said knowingly, causing all eyes to face her. "Orpheus was designed to be nigh-unbeatable. It has several healthbars and incredibly high stats in everything, plus a potent regenerative ability. Even those dragons could only make a dent in it when it comes to HP."

Silica let out a gasp. "No way," the young girl said in fear. "What should we do then?"

What to do indeed? Kirito was wracking his brain to for some other idea. One idea that came to mind was that Marth and the others would summon their dragons, but given how much trouble Stardust and Black Rose gave him and Kuroba before appearing, it was too risky. The second one was equally dangerous, and that was to press the attack while Orpheus was vulnerable, with the dragons acting as the main fighters. However, he didn't know what else Orpheus was capable of and he couldn't risk losing Stardust Dragon permanently. That left only one option.

"Fallback, everyone," he ordered softly as he sheathed his swords. It was frustrating for the Black Swordsman to call for a full retreat like this, but the Black Legion is clearly outmatched. It was better to cut their loses and pull back. They weren't even here to fight the Legend-class Enemy in the first place. This was simply the wrong place at the wrong time.

Kuroba seemed to agree as she nodded her head. "That seems wise," the Black King voiced. "We're in the Accelerated World to go to Hermes' Chord, not to fight Enemies. Let's use this opportunity to flee."

_Then allow us to assist, mistress,_ Black Rose Dragon said as she and Stardust approached the group. The female dragon lowered her wings while the male reached out with his hands.

"Thank you," Kuroba said with a smile before facing her Legion. "Everyone, climb onto the dragons. Don't be picky. Just pick one. We don't have a lot of time."

Orpheus's wounds were halfway healed, and it was starting to pick itself back up. Kuroba was right, they didn't have much time. The Black Legion switched into two groups, with Kuroba, Asuna, Leafa, Silica and Fuko on Black Rose while Kirito, Marth, Klein, Sinon, Thorrnn and C.C. got on Stardust. Fuko in particular was challenging since she was confined to a wheelchair, but luckily she was able to put it in her storage.

Once everyone was secure, the dragons took off, and just in time as Orpheus had finally recovered enough to get on its feet and ready another laser attack, this time from its spear. The blue laser came from the tip of the blade and shot through the sky, splitting the air and clouds above. It, however, missed both dragons as they both dodged the attack and increased their speed to leave the Enemy in their dust. Everyone let out a sigh of relief once Orpheus was no longer visible.

"That was a close one," Thorrnn said tiredly, the emotional fatigue from the battle finally hitting her. They were all sitting on Stardust Dragon's back. "I almost thought we were never getting out of there."

"Me too," Marth replied. "That Enemy is stronger than any Floor Boss I've encountered in Aincrad. Even the Fatal Scythe from the Town of Beginnings pales before it."

Kirito shuddered at the memory of the grim reaper-like monster that nearly killed him, Asuna, Marth, and Yuuki when they ventured into the dungeon beneath the Town of Beginnings to help Yulier rescue her guild leader, Thinker, who was trapped in its depths. The Fatal Scythe was stationed outside the safe room where Thinker was, not to keep the rescue party from the guild leader, but from the system console that was located there. That boss's level and stats were extremely high, so much so that Kirito wasn't able to see its healthbar. It was possibly something as strong as the Floor Bosses they could have encountered from Floor 90 and above. If it wasn't for Yui using her admin privileges as a mental health program, none of the quartet would have survived that day.

_"Yui,"_ he thought in sorrow as flashes of his foster daughter flowed through his mind. _"Where are you? Are you safe? We shouldn't have left you behind like that. Whichever god that's still out there, please keep my daughter safe."_

Deep down, he knew that Yui wouldn't have blamed him and Asuna for leaving her like that. She was a very understanding girl, at least if it didn't involve unfamiliar girls getting physically close to her father to which she'd accuse him of cheating on Asuna. It was a spur of the moment when Critias, Fenris (not to be confused with Fenrir), and Remus appeared before the group as spirits and offered their aid to follow Marth to whichever time he had accidently sent himself.

However, that didn't make it any less painful to her parents. There wasn't even a trace of the AI anywhere to be found on the Internet. Both the Sword Art Online and Alfheim Online servers have been offline for years and were likely taken apart and recycled. Any data they would have had would be long gone now. Just like death in the real world, if data is lost in the virtual world, it can't ever return, no matter how much you wish otherwise.

"Owowowow! Let go!"

Kirito was brought out of his dread by the sudden pained outburst and turned to see Thorrnn yanking at her brother's ear, quite forcefully at that. She looked quite angry at the Dark Swordsman, but there were some tears threatening to leave her eyes. Klein, Sinon, and C.C. were simply watching, the samurai looking somewhat terrified while the girls seemed more amused.

"You idiot!" she cried out, making Marth cringe as her voice echoed in his ear. "What were you thinking with trying to take that thing on by yourself?! Are you _trying_ to get yourself killed?"

"It's not like death is permanent here," Marth argued back as he tried to pull away, but Thorrnn kept a tight grip on his ear, restricting how far he could go. "Besides, I wasn't fighting it alone. Kirito and Kuroba were with me."

"That doesn't make it right! Do you have any idea how worried I was over you?! Don't _ever_ try sending me away like that again. Do you hear me?"

Marth looked away from the Sylph and grumbled, "I won't hear at all if you keep shouting like that."

"What did you say?" she said threateningly, a dark aura appearing around her.

Seeing no way out of the situation, and slightly fearful of his life, Marth let out a groan before glancing at his sister. "Fine," he said in defeat. "I won't do it again. Promise."

Thorrnn let out a huff before finally letting go of her brother's ear, her dark aura dissipating. "You better keep it."

Now that the tension had died off, Kirito released the breath he was holding. He was glad that Suguha was on Kuroba's dragon and not his, else he would probably have gone through what his partner just experienced.

"Oh, _Kazuto_."

Kirito instantly froze in his spot as the singsong voice touched his ears. It would seem that the gods have chosen to not allow him even a moment of respite. He slowly turned around and saw Leafa standing behind him with a deceptively innocent smile on her face, arms crossed behind her back.

_"I'm so dead!"_ he thought to himself quickly. Hoping to avoid a similar scolding, he let out a forced chuckle and nervously said, "H-hey Sugu. What brings you here?"

"Oh, nothing," Leafa replied, retaining her smile. "We just need to have a little _chat_." She put a lot of emphasis on the last word.

Yep, he's dead. Hopefully they were high enough from the ground that no one on the ground can hear him scream. Kuroba was seriously lucky that she didn't have a sibling, otherwise she would probably be getting similar treatment from them right now.

* * *

Merlin was casually strolling through a temple far within the shadowy lands of Eternus. He was a man with long, messy white hair that fell to his waist, the tips multicolored, and purple eyes. He wore a white robe that had a hood and sleeves that draped down his arms, a black tunic underneath and pants, as well as black boots. By his ears seemed to be multicolored flowers. In his right hand was a black curved staff that had a sword strapped inside, the handle pointing to the ground. He had been walking for what seemed like hours but wasn't that fatigued. He was a little annoyed of how confusing the layout for the temple was though. There had been several times where he would nearly fall into a trap or reach a dead end. However, he was able to survive whatever the temple threw at him thanks to his magic. Immortality helps too.

Through his clairvoyant eyes, he was able to witness the battle that had taken place between Nega Nebulus and the Legend-class Enemy, Orpheus, despite being nowhere near the vicinity. When he saw the legendary Stardust and Black Rose Dragons appear, he smiled.

"Good, the divine beasts are starting to awaken," he said to himself, mentally patting himself on the back. "I knew it was wise to entrust Scathach with the task of locating those dragon cards and giving them to Marth and his friends. _She_ really needs to put some more faith into my counsel. After all, _I'm_ the one who can see into the present."

The Mage of Flowers soon reached a massive chamber located at the bottom of the temple. It was largely empty, save for a handful of worn pillars holding the ceiling up, as well as a large pool of purple liquid, known as dark water, located in the center. On the other side of the chamber was a sealed door. If his hunch was correct, on the other side of that door was the altar that will prove vital in the future. The Altar of the Abyss.

Merlin took a few steps towards the door but instantly stopped as the dark water within the pool became disturbed. The chamber began rumbling fiercely, but there was no threat of it coming down.

_"Right on que,"_ he thought with a confidant smirk.

An altar this powerful wouldn't have been left unguarded. That would be asking for trouble. Of course, Merlin has been told that he is the embodiment of all forms of trouble, but that wasn't why he was here, plus he was rather proud of that comparison. But the guardian located within this temple was special, one that had been placed here by the Goddess of Shadows herself.

A massive figure emerged from the pool, the dark water running off its body as two sets of golden-brown feathered wings stretched to their full length. The creature's upper body rose to be about ten meters tall, easily towering over the mage. The top half was of a woman with flowing purple hair and dressed in black armor with gold trimming that just barely covered her breasts and exposed the rest of her chest, and black and gold gloves that partially resembled snake scales with elongated fingernails. The ends of her hair were clumped together and formed black snake heads with red lines. The lower half of her body was a snake tail with black scales on top and gold on the bottom.

The woman looked down at the mage with her piercing purple eyes, her snake heads all snarling and barring their fangs at him. "Well, well, well," she said with a sinister smile. "It has been a long time since anyone was foolish enough to come here. Who are you? Speak quickly before my snakes devour you."

Despite the threat on his life, the Mage of Flowers retained his composure, his face full of confidence. "I am Merlin," he introduced with a polite bow before looking her in the eye. "You and I have much to discuss, Goddess Gorgon, or should I say, Medusa."

**To be continued**

* * *

**And so Stardust Dragon and Black Rose Dragon make their debut. More about how they function will be explained in the next chapter. I was tempted to write the group reaching the tower in this chapter, but I saw the potential for a good cliffhanger (yeah, I'm evil) involving Merlin, who has just been revealed to be the one who told Scathach about the dragon cards. Yep, Scathach isn't the only Fate Stay/Night character that'll be in this story. Aside from Merlin and Gorgon/Medusa, there will be several other Fate characters appearing as well. As with always, they'll be having different backstories and they won't be seen for a while as they will be from either Eternus or Arun. I hope you can look forward to which characters will appear.**

**P.S. Sorry for the late update. I was busy prepping for midterms and with my other two stories. I think I've got a good method on how to handle multiple projects so hopefully I won't get burned out and cancel any of them. Plus if I don't do this, I'll never get most of my future stories done.**

**Anyway, see you guys next time!**


	36. Journey To Space

**What's this? I actually managed to update two stories back-to-back? Has the world gone mad?! All joking aside, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Edit: I got Nakamura's name wrong. His first name is actually Hajime. I fixed it in this chapter and may fix it in any previous chapters where I made that error. Thank you, ScytheMaster.**

* * *

**May 23rd, 2057**

Hajime Nakamura was heading home after doing some studying at the library, his school bag draped over his right shoulder and hands buried in his pockets. The finals were quickly approaching so whenever he wasn't in Brain Burst dueling weak opponents, he spent his time studying. He could use his acceleration powers to breeze through his tests, which some Burst Linkers have done, but he opted not to do it as he wanted to rely on his own skills when it came to things in real life.

Two years ago, he would have been studying with his friend and guardian, Red Rider (real name Satoshi Akiyama), but thanks to the treacherous Black Lotus, Rider had lost all his memories of the Accelerated World. Thankfully, the first time Nakamura had ever met Satoshi had nothing to do with Brain Burst, so their friendship wasn't completely gone. However, his friend hasn't been the same since losing Brain Burst. It was like he lost a part of himself after Lotus cowardly beheaded him in the Accelerated World. Just thinking about it boiled his blood.

_"Damn you, Lotus,"_ Hajime cursed silently. _"I'll make you pay for what you did to Satoshi. He wanted peace within that harsh world, but you just wanted to keep fighting. I'll never forgive you."_

His thoughts then turned to the boy he hated most. The protégé of the Black King, Marth, the Dark Swordsman. Nakamura had always admired the Darkness Duo ever since his sister first read stories about them when he was a child. When he found out that the heroes of Aincrad had sided with the greatest traitor in the Accelerated World, it angered him to no end. The Darkness Duo were heroes of justice, people who punished the treacherous and any who abused their power. They were harbingers of vengeance! So why would they side with that traitor? It just boggled his mind.

At the end of the day, though, it didn't matter. If his former heroes have sided with his greatest enemy, then he'll crush them too with his power. Nothing will stop him with his mission, a mission of revenge and destruction.

Hajime found himself looking up at the cloudy sky. "I wonder how _she_ would react to seeing me now," he said to himself.

* * *

After a few train stops, Hajime finally arrived at his house. His mother, Yuriko Nakamura, was already home, preparing to make dinner. It wasn't always just the two of them in this house, but ever since _that_ happened almost nine years ago, the mother and son have struggled to get by.

"Welcome home, Hajime," Yuriko greeted with a warm smile as she heard her son enter the kitchen. "How was your studying?"

"It went well," he answered with a shrug. "I think I'm going to ace my finals."

"That's good!" his mother said enthusiastically. "Your father and Kasumi would be so proud to hear that."

Just hearing his older sister's name filled him with sorrow, prompting him to look away out of shame. His mother noticed quickly and looked rather panicked.

"I'm sorry," she said hastily. "I shouldn't have said that. You still haven't moved on from the accident. I should have been more considerate."

Hajime faced his mother and shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said with a forced smile. "Anyway, I'm going to take a shower and lie down for a bit. Let me know when dinner's ready."

His mother said okay before he went upstairs and into his room. He gathered a change of clothes and was about to head to the bathroom to take a shower when he eyed a certain picture in a brown wooden frame on his nightstand. He went over to the stand and held the picture close to his face. In it was an eight-year-old version of himself getting a piggyback ride from a girl who looked nearly identical to him, only with longer hair and was twelve years old. His older sister, Kasumi Nakamura.

"I miss you, Sister," he said in sorrow, his mind flashing to the incident that forever affected his life.

* * *

**June 30th, 2048**

It was supposed to be a regular drive to an aquarium for a family day. Nakamura was sitting in the back of the royal-blue car with his sister, Kasumi, while his father, Sadao Nakamura, and his mother were in front.

"So, Hajime," Sadao spoke up, glancing at his son through the rearview mirror. "Are you excited to go to the aquarium?"

"You bet!" the young Hajime said eagerly. "I've been thinking about it for the past three weeks now. I can't wait to see all the different fish!"

Kasumi let out a giggle, a sound that always made her brother smile. "You never change, little brother," she said sweetly. "I hope you never lose that smile."

Meanwhile, a few blocks away from the Nakamura family, Rias and Frank were walking from the train station to a nearby park. It had been a few weeks since the incident at the museum where monsters had attacked the building in an attempt to locate the Dawn Remnant. While Frank had killed all of the ones that were there, Rias had remained on guard in case Arcanos's allies were to try another attack, whether it would be on her or her beloved son.

She kept a firm, yet gentle, grip on her son's hand as they continued down the sidewalk. The demoness wanted to make sure Frank was within arm's reach of her so that she could better protect him. If Arcanos dared to go after him, then he would have to go through her first.

"Is something wrong, Mom?" Frank asked in confusion, noticing the tension in his foster mother's face.

Rias quickly hid it behind a gentle smile as she glanced at young half-demon. "No, sweetie," she said softly. "It's nothing you need to be concerned about. I've just been too busy with work, is all."

It was a partial lie, but a necessary one. It was a struggle to support the family of two, but Rias always found a way to make ends meet. She wanted the reincarnated son of her oldest friend to have a normal life as long as possible, despite knowing that it will inevitably end.

_"He deserves a normal life after everything he's been through as Zane,"_ Rias said silently. _"Zane was born in a war-torn world thanks to Zeta. In this era, he may finally get the life he really deserves."_

Little did she know that after a few years, her beloved son would get caught in the mix of an upcoming war with Arcanos and his forces. If she had, she would have told Frank her true identity from the start and slowly prepared him for the battles ahead. However, the past cannot be changed.

The mother and son soon arrived at a crosswalk near the park. The light was green so they couldn't cross. Unbeknownst to the Crimson Sorceress, a familiar red-haired man noticed her from atop a nearby rooftop.

"Well, well, well," Arcanos mused to himself, arms folded across his chest. "So this is where you've been hiding, Rias. And it seems you've adopted one of those mongrels too. How distasteful."

He could reveal himself and attack her now, but he knew that if he did, their battle would be fierce as they were both demon lords. There also lied the possibility that Rias could kill him, effectively ruining the plans he has been secretly preparing since his reawakening after the Demon War.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a certain navy-blue car slowly coming down the road, heading towards the crosswalk where Rias and her son were. An idea suddenly popped in his head. It would by no means be enough to kill the Crimson Sorceress, but it would be a subtle way of toying with her and be a jab at her love for humans.

Arcanos stretched out his right hand towards the moving car and fired a small red bolt at the vehicle. After that, he simply stayed where he was to watch the chaos unfold.

As soon as the bolt hit the hood of the car, the car began acting wildly. It was trying to in any direction it wanted, with Sadao barely able to keep it in check.

"What the hell?" he said in confusion, not caring that he just cursed in front of his children. He'll deal with that afterward. "What's going on with this thing?"

The hazard lights in the dashboard began flashing wildly, as if the car was unsure what was wrong with it. There weren't any parking lots in the immediate area, so Sadao had to get to one immediately so he could examine the vehicle.

"Dear, what's going on?" Yuriko asked in worry, their children also getting nervous.

"It's the car!" Sadao replied in frustration. "It's going out of control. Kids, hold on to something!"

Hajime started to panic, tears threatening to leak out of his eyes, when he suddenly felt someone squeeze his hand. It was his sister, who was putting on a brave face to calm her little brother.

"We'll be fine, Hajime," she said reassuringly. "If anything happens, I'll make sure to keep you safe."

The younger boy couldn't help but smile at that. "Thanks, Sister."

Unfortunately, once the car drew near the demoness and her son, it refused to cooperate any further with it beginning to speed towards the duo, despite Sadao's efforts to stop it. The steering wheel wouldn't budge no matter how hard he pulled, and neither the brake nor emergency brake would even slow it down.

"Look out, Sadao!" Yuriko shouted in a panic as she noticed the duo.

"I see them, but the car isn't stopping!" he insisted. With no other option, he hastily honked the horn to warn the unsuspecting duo of the danger.

Even before she heard the horn, Rias had a small inkling that she and her son were in danger. It was just a small icy sensation at the back of her neck. She didn't get much time to question it when she heard the repeated sounds of a car horn blazing towards her. She instantly turned towards the sound and saw the out-of-control car charging at her and her son.

"Mom!" Frank cried out in worry, his eyes filled with fear.

There wasn't any time for them to make a run for it to avoid a collision, so Rias knew that she would have to use her magic. She couldn't risk teleporting as she didn't want to deal with people wondering why she and Frank suddenly disappeared. Plus there was a small convenience store right behind them. If she moved away, then they would be at risk instead. There was no other option. She would have to stop it herself and minimize the casualties.

Rias quickly got between Frank and the speeding car, fell to her knees and pulled her son into a tight hug, burying his face within her chest. She made sure to keep an iron grip on him so that he wouldn't be at risk of moving.

"Close your eyes, sweetie," she said insistently. "Don't open them until I say so."

"But there's—" Frank started to say.

"Do what I say!" she cried out in desperation. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."

Frank, although confused at the time, listened to his mother and closed his eyes. Rias then channeled her mana and surrounded herself with a red circular barrier that was clear as glass. Sadao only noticed it for a brief second before the car finally struck it, resulting in a loud crash.

It was almost like the world had stopped for Hajime. He tasted metal in his mouth, meaning he must have cut himself a little. His head was throbbing, and his vision was blurry. There was a lot of smoke coming from the front of the car, but he could make out the faint color of red hidden within the dark cloud.

The windshield was practically gone, and his father wasn't in the driver's seat anymore. Yuriko was unconscious in her seat, her face buried within an airbag. Despite being unable to shake off his daze, Nakamura turned towards his sister, only to see her head lying low and a trail of blood leaking from her forehead.

* * *

**Present Day**

To this day, Hajime didn't know how the accident could have happened. His father had died instantly in the car crash, having been flung out the windshield and onto the concrete pavement. Kasumi luckily survived, but she ended up in a coma and hasn't woken up even once. The doctors say that she suffered a brain injury from the impact and that the family were better off letting her die, but Hajime refused to let that happen.

As for the mother and son they had hit, miraculously they were both unharmed, though it baffled both him, the medics, and the police. There wasn't even an investigation as to why, as if some unseen force made the authorities look the other way. He never saw either of them again, however seeing the Dark Swordsman at Raker's house caused the memory to resurface. He didn't know why, but it did give him even more reasons to hate his former hero.

Hajime somberly looked at the picture of him and his sister. He always made sure to visit her in the hospital at least once a week, each time praying that she will wake up so he can see that smile again. But it would take a miracle to repair the damage done to Kasumi's brain and he didn't have the means to perform such a miracle. If he can reach level 10 and meet the creators of Brain Burst, perhaps they may know a way to save his beloved sister. This too would be difficult as King players were on a different level than other Burst Linkers and he couldn't afford to lose even once, or else he would lose Brain Burst forever.

_"If only I had power,"_ he thought to himself. _"The power to burn everything in my way. I won't let anyone stop me!"_

Suddenly a strange cry echoed in his mind. It sounded…draconic. He unconsciously turned towards the cabinet by his bed and opened the topmost drawer. Lying on top of his folded t-shirts was a Yugioh card with a bipedal black and red dragon with curved horns on its head. It was the Red Dragon Archfiend.

"What the?" Hajime said in surprise as he picked up the card with his other hand while setting the picture down on his bed. He didn't play any kind of card games, much less Yugioh. The strangest thing is that he felt some sort of connection with the dragon, as if it was waiting for him for a long time.

He began wondering who could have left this card here. His mother was quickly ruled out as she wouldn't have chosen such a random thing as a gift, especially since the card was practically useless without a deck. Next was Kasumi since she's still in a coma, as well as Satoshi as he hadn't been over for a week. Unbeknownst to Hajime, a blue rune located in the corner of his room by the ceiling had been observing him before disappearing, its task having been accomplished.

* * *

Scathach was standing inside Frank's room at the Hagino apartment. She had changed into civilian clothes as to not draw attention while also dismissing her spear. She couldn't help but smile as she admired seeing all the different pictures of the half-demon and her old friend. The Twilight Remnant had a much more relaxed childhood than his original life ever could.

She knew it wasn't Zane's fault though, Zeta's war on humanity forced his hand. It truly was a bloody time. You never knew who would be the next to fall in battle. A friend, a loved one, a simple comrade. Nothing was guaranteed. Even members of Zane's party, the Paladins of Umbris, weren't immune to this truth as some of them succumbed to death as well, whether they'd be human, demon, or god.

The Paladins of Umbris didn't discriminate any of its members. Such a thing was pointless as they all shared a common goal, defeating the God of Darkness and Destruction. Most of them disappeared after Zeta's defeat, the rumors saying that they joined in Celine and Lucia's search for their missing leader, only to never return. To her knowledge, the only surviving Paladins are her daughter, Uathach, and her former student, Cu Chulainn. The only reason they were still around was because they were busy helping the Queen of Shadows deal with the dark beasts.

While Uathach didn't regret helping her mother with her task, Scathach knew that she wanted to join the search for her little brother. She always did have a soft spot for Zane and his Kirito, a perfect foil for Scathach's strict teachings. Even though both the Twilight and Night Remnants couldn't remember their previous lives, Scathach felt the desire to re-introduce them to their foster sister.

_"Still, what could have happened to Zane?"_ she found herself thinking. _"Even I couldn't find a trace of him when I searched for him during my rest periods. I couldn't even locate his sword, Lunaris."_

Her thoughts then turned to that wizard that visited her fortress. She couldn't help but feel a strange sense of familiarity, as well as some foreign irritation from just the thought of that man. It felt like she had forgotten something important. But what was it, and why did she feel that this missing knowledge would be vital in the coming battle with Arcanos?

* * *

Kirito rubbed his aching shoulder with his other hand. Leafa really didn't hold back in scolding him for trying to hold back Orpheus so the others could escape. He did take a few dents to his HP, but Asuna should be able to fix it once they land. He really hoped that they would be able to find a portal to Hermes' Chord. They had to. A Space Stage may be the key to understanding the true power of the Gale Thruster and finding out why Fuko desired to reach the sky. For Kirito, flying was only a tool, an addictive tool, but something he can live without. He only had the aviation ability because of his experiences as a Spriggan in Alfheim Online. For Leafa, flying was a part of her. She loved flying through the sky with all her heart. But why did Fuko reach for the sky? That was the true question.

_My lord,_ Stardust Dragon spoke up. _We are here._

Kirito snapped out of his thoughts and saw that they were nearing the Tokyo Tower. This was one of the few locations he, Marth, and Kuroba speculated where they speculated that a portal could be found. C.C. might be able to confirm this, but given her track record, she wouldn't give a straight answer or just ignore the question entirely.

"Stardust, can you detect anything nearby?" he questioned.

_I do. There's one in that tower. Look._

True to the dragon's word, there was a portal of pulsating blue light surrounded by four transparent pillars located on top of the Tokyo Tower. Kirito couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"Yes!" he cheered in excitement. "Guys, look!"

The other Black Legion members looked at where Kirito was pointing and cheered as well.

"Alright!" Klein exclaimed as he slammed a fist in his palm. "Now we're talking!"

_We're going to cross through it,_ Black Rose Dragon spoke up. _Everyone, hold on tight._

Black Rose slowed down to allow Stardust to take the lead. As they drew closer, the portal grew wider to match the dragons' size, allowing them to pass through with ease. The dragons and the Burst Linkers found their bodies break into countless particles of white light. Kirito then felt his consciousness ascend vertically at an incredible speed before his vision completely whited out. After a few seconds, Kirito felt his senses return, with him feeling his feet touching the hard ground.

Unfortunately, his weight returned rather abruptly to his body, prompting him to involuntarily fall to one knee. While still in his crouching position, he slowly opened his eyes, first noticing his HP gauge in its usual top left position in his field of view. He examined his body and saw that his body was back to normal as Graphite Edge. It looked like he was still in the Unlimited Neutral Field, however there was the English word "Locked" located in the center of his HP gauge.

"What the?" Kirito wondered aloud. "Where am I?"

_Isn't it obvious, my lord?_ A familiar voice spoke up. Kirito turned around and saw his dragon standing behind him at his full height. Black Rose Dragon and the rest of Nega Nebulus was there too, though the Burst Linkers looked a little disoriented as well.

_We have arrived,_ Stardust Dragon continued. _This is Hermes' Chord._

Kirito looked around to examine his surroundings where he saw that the metal floor they were on barely ended past the two dragons. Beyond that was simply the sky and clouds, with the Earth's surface below them. It should have been a familiar sight to the Black Swordsman, but it was different than usual. They were much higher up, way higher than he could normally reach with his own wings.

The sky was a deep ultramarine, the clouds formed in thin streaks or enormous vortexes far below. The ocean was dyed a deep indigo and the land was a hazy brown and green. If he fell from this height, he'd probably burn up from the speed of his descent.

Located in the center of the metal floor was a thick metal pillar. It looked to be about a hundred meters in diameter and stretched up towards the sky with no end in sight. There were handful of shuttles stationed around the tower. Stardust was right. They made it. They had reached the Hermes' Chord.

"Wow," Kuroba said in interest as they all rose to their feet. "It's way bigger than I thought it would be. I'm guessing we can use this space elevator to go to a Space stage?"

"Maybe," C.C. replied. "But none of those shuttles are big enough for all of us. This is new territory, so we don't know if we'll end up on the same stage if we take different shuttles."

"Can that happen?" Silica questioned. She didn't like the idea of being separated from everyone, especially in an unknown stage.

"I don't know," the AI answered honestly. "It's never happened before, but like I said, this is unknown territory. Who knows what could happen here?"

"There's also the matter of whether we can survive in space or not," Sinon added, her hand holding up her chin. "We can breathe underwater here in Brain Burst, but will that hold true in the vacuum of space?"

Marth scratched his cheek sheepishly. "Good question," he said. "It wouldn't matter if we reached the Space stage if we can't even survive it."

Kirito had to agree with his partner. He, Kuroba, Marth, Sinon, and Asuna were definitely at risk since their mouths were exposed. Everyone else had their mouths covered by face masks. They needed to find some way that they could survive in space.

Suddenly a strange light materialized from the Chord before it split into separate orbs and collided with the maskless Burst Linkers' chests. It felt odd, yet comforting. A black mask extended from Marth and Kirito's armor, covering their mouths and nostrils. A similar mask appears on the girls, with a purple one for Kuroba, a blue one for Sinon, and a white one for Asuna. C.C. didn't change at all, though that was likely because she's an artificial intelligence, which meant she didn't need to breathe.

"I guess that answers the breathing issue," Kirito spoke up. "But how should we get to the Space stage?"

Kuroba let out a light cough, catching everyone's attention, and pointed at the two dragons.

"Oh, that can work. Can you guys reach outer space from here?"

Stardust Dragon nodded its head. _Of course. Such a thing is child's play for us._

That brought a smile to the Black Swordsman's face. They were almost there. Just a little bit further. Everyone began climbing onto the two dragons, except for Marth, Kuroba and Kirito.

"It's incredible how much progress we've made thanks to our dragons," Kuroba commented. "I can't wait to see what else they're capable of. Not to mention seeing the other dragons in action."

"In the Yugioh game, some of the dragons we possess have evolved forms," Marth explained as he brought out his dragon card. "I wonder if we can do that."

"Maybe," Kirito added. "We'll have to wait and see." He let out a sigh. "Anyway, let's go. The Space stage awaits."

His partners agreed and they began making their way to the dragons, though Marth was lagging behind. For some reason, he felt like they were being watched, but he couldn't sense anyone else here. He then noticed that Galaxy Eyes was glowing, as if it was reacting to something.

_"Strange,"_ Marth said to himself. _"What's going on with you?"_

Suddenly he felt a splitting headache, the pain almost overwhelming. He held his forehead in his right palm while trying to keep himself steady. His vision was then replaced by strange flashes of unfamiliar scenes. The first was a vision of him dressed in a different black overcoat with twin tails, as well as red and gold trimming, red gloves, and black pants and boots. He was wielding Lunara and Solaris and was battling someone in a castle of sorts, but he couldn't make out the individual. The next vision was him in the middle of an unknown plains, a chaotic battle surrounding him as far as the eye could see.

On top of a hill, he watched two figures fighting each other. The first was a man with pale white hair and eyes as black as night. He wore black armor with a crimson cape and wielded a wicked black greatsword with both hands. Marth knew that man. How could he not? It was Zarc, the False Demon King, and the man who nearly razed Tokyo out of revenge against Marth defeating Zeta on Temporal Island.

The second figure was one that looked familiar to the swordsman, but he couldn't place why. It was a woman with beautiful black hair that draped down to her waist and eyes as red as blood. She wore a black-and-white short-sleeved battle dress that exposed her legs, with red shoulderpads and gauntlets, and white boots that went up to her knees. Her weapons of choice were two large longswords, the right sword gold and the left being a pale white.

She was covered head to toe in injuries, most of which looked deep, with black blood staining her clothes and clumping on her flawless hair. Despite this, she still persisted in fighting the False Demon King, who looked almost as injured as his armor had multiple gashes in it.

_"It can't be,"_ Marth thought to himself as he realized who that was. _"Is that…"_

The scene changed once more, but one that was even less pleasant. Marth was kneeling on a hill that was layered with corpses of strange creatures, with him using a strange black and gold longsword that resembled Lunara and Solaris and his left arm as support. His coat was in tatters, with multiple cuts covering his body, some which looked to be fatal with black blood pouring out of them and wetting the grass beneath him. His black hair was longer, around shoulder length, and clung to his bloody forehead. He couldn't find the strength to stand, to speak. Even breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. Everything in his body hurt. His arms, his legs, his chest, there wasn't any part of him that wasn't in pain. All he could do was stare at the bloody battlefield of this strange field.

A field of death. A Hell on Earth. Tattered corpses and limbs as far as the eye could see, but there were some survivors, though Marth could not make them out as his vision was becoming blurry. And fires, so many fires, either created by magic or some other method, just burning anything that they touched. The sky was covered in storm clouds, purple lightning dancing in the air. A gentle rain then came down on the field of death, as if trying to wash it all away.

"I'm sorry, Lucia," Marth found himself saying in sorrow, his strength fading away with every word that he spoke. "I'm sorry, Celine. I'm sorry…Kirito." The last name contained more sorrow and regret than the other two, but he didn't understand why.

The vision ended right there with Marth returning to the Accelerated World in a shock. His breathing became rapid as he quickly looked himself over and see that there were no injuries on him. His HP gauge was still full as well. However, that didn't make him relax. His headache was gone too, almost like it never happened.

_"What was that just now?"_ Marth asked himself while trying to slow his heartbeat. _"Where those…my memories of my first life? Of Zane? But I thought Mom said that Remnants don't possess any memories of their previous lives."_

One thought came to mind, and that was the possibility that some memories are so powerful that not even reincarnation can erase them. However, they were missing some important context, making them nearly impossible for him to make sense out of them, especially the first and third ones.

"Marth. Are you okay?"

The Dark Swordsman looked up to see Kuroba standing in front of him. Even though her face was largely hidden by her visor and mask, you could tell that she was concerned.

He felt the urge to tell her what he just saw but found himself feeling too afraid to do so. He hated that feeling. He had promised not to keep any more secrets from his girlfriend, but he was too shell-shocked to share this information with anyone. He'll tell her another time, once he has properly digested what he just witnessed.

"It's nothing," Marth lied, trying to sound as normal as possible to avoid suspicion. "I just zoned out for a second."

Kuroba raised an eyebrow, though again you couldn't really see it because of her visor. "Are you feeling okay?" she questioned. She brought her right hand to her love's forehead, as if to check if he had a fever or not. Granted, Brain Burst wouldn't really tell you if you had one or not, but it was the thought that counted. "You're not sick, are you?"

"No, no," Marth passed off, forcing himself to smile. "I feel fine. Anyway, the others are waiting for us. Let's go."

He began making his way to the dragons, with him choosing to ride Stardust Dragon again. Kuroba, on the other hand, was making her way slowly. She just knew that Marth was hiding something from her again, but she couldn't bring herself to be angry, not after what she saw.

A vision of a field of death in an unknown land, torn corpses and discarded weapons scattered everywhere. A gentle rain fell down, as if to comfort both the fallen and the survivors. Kuroba was wearing a pearl-white thin battledress with gold highlights, white gloves that went up to her forearms, and heeled gold boots. Her hair was a platinum blonde while her eyes were still their usual amber color. She was kneeling down on a hill, cradling a young man with shoulder-length black hair and skin unnaturally pale in her arms, not caring about the black blood staining her armor. Tears of sorrow were streaming out of her eyes as she cried out in grief.

She wasn't alone as there was another young woman weeping beside her, a woman with long pale-white hair and bloodred eyes. She a green and black battledress with red trimming, green fingerless gloves and heeled boots. Strapped to her waist was a strange rapier with a blue and white blade and a gold handle with a knuckleguard. The blade itself seemed to radiate stardust.

_"That had to have been one of my memories as Celine,"_ Kuroba thought to herself. _"That boy… It couldn't be, could it?"_

She wouldn't be getting any answers anytime soon. She could ask Rias about it later, but that vision troubled her greatly. It could be a memory of her previous life, or it could be a vision of what is to come. It was too early to say, but she prayed that it was the former. She will have to think about it and determine what she should do later though. For now, she shall keep this to herself and focus on the mission at hand.

The Black King climbed onto her dragon, allowing Black Rose and Stardust to finally take off, heading straight up at high-speed. Unbeknownst to them, Lucius stepped out from behind one of the shuttles and watched them ascend.

"I was right," he thought aloud. "The other Galaxy Eyes is with the Twilight Remnant." He pulled out his own dragon card from his coat pocket. "It looks like we'll be having that battle sooner than I expected. Well then, no point in putting this off."

Lucius summoned his wings and took off after the Black Legion. The two Galaxy Eyes dragons were destined to fight each other. What better battlefield for such an occasion than space itself?

**To be continued**

* * *

**Yeah, yeah, I'm evil ending the chapter right before they actually reach space, which some of you probably want to see sooner than later so I can get this arc over with and move on to the Chrome Disaster Returns arc. Trust me, I want to do that too because I want to give certain characters some nice development, but I don't want to rush the pacing. I learned that the hard way back when I wrote the Phantom Bullet arc in my original draft of Dark Swordsman 2 (I pretty much cut out most of Sinon's scenes because I wanted to get to the Mother's Rosario arc ASAP as the original draft didn't have Yuuki as an SAO Survivor) and the original draft of the Temporal Island arc. From what I gather in the light novels, I'll be changing how this arc concludes and potentially how the Chrome Disaster Returns arc begins (the ending of that arc will definitely be different from the canon, I can assure that at least).**

**Anyway, I bet you guys were surprised to see some of Hajime/Dark Cerberus's backstory in this chapter. It felt like a good place to put it in as I don't want to force everything about him into one arc (hint, he's going to be one of the major characters in the next arc). Then there's the strange visions of Marth and Kuroba. I debated putting them in this chapter as I was planning on showing these later on in the story, but they're pretty much out of context anyway so they can mean anything. For all we know, they could be simple hallucinations (pfft, how likely is that to happen). Plus I didn't want this chapter to feel too short.**

**With that rant out of the way. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you guys next time!**


	37. The Diva in Space

**May 23, 2057**

Fuko couldn't believe her eyes. She was actually in space. Kirito and the others were right. She could see countless stars far in the distance, lighting up the dark stage. The Sun and Moon were visible as well, not to mention half a dozen space stations orbiting the planet behind her. The planet of Brain Burst.

"Incredible," she said in awe. For some reason, Sky Raker felt a strange sense of longing deep within her heart. It was like there was something that she had forgotten, something important. Disrupting her thoughts, she soon felt herself starting to float away, meaning that the Space stage could simulate zero gravity, only to be dragged back down to Black Rose as the two dragons surrounded themselves with an aura of power.

 _Sorry, for that,_ Black Rose apologized. _It would be if any of you were to float off in this Stage. There may not even be a limit as to how far you can go. Without some way of achieving flight or thrust, you will find it very difficult to move about here._

"Good call," Kuroba agreed with a nod of her head. "So far it looks like we can survive in space here." She glanced over at her partners as Stardust Dragon flew closer to her dragon. "Where should we go now?"

Kirito looked around and examined the area. He couldn't spot any Enemies around, meaning that either they didn't exist on this stage yet, or were lurking somewhere else. They couldn't stay where they are right now as their current position opened them up for attacks from all directions and left them with little options to counterattack. His gaze quickly drew to one space station, one that matched the colors of Aincrad. It even had similar pillars on the outer parts.

 _"Strange,"_ he thought to himself.

Besides that strange encounter with the Skull Reaper, this was the first time he had seen something that appeared to reference the older VRMMOs. Could that space station have some kind of connection to that iron castle that once commanded the skies? Once again, he found himself wondering just who created this game and what its real purpose is.

"Let's head to that space station," he suggested while pointing towards it. "Not only will we have access to solid ground, but there might something interesting there."

"Sounds like a plan," Marth said in agreement. "Let's go."

 _Very well,_ Stardust Dragon acknowledged. _Hold on tight, everyone._

The two dragons hurried over towards the space station that Kirito had pointed out. As soon as they had arrived at the Space stage, their HP gauges had returned to normal, indicating that they could get hurt here, unlike at the Hermes' Chord. Since this was a new area with potentially new Enemies, they would have to be careful with how they proceed.

It didn't take long for the group to arrive at the space station, which was surprisingly much bigger than both Stardust and Black Rose. Kirito quickly noticed that the station had its own artificial gravity from the moment the two dragons landed. This was a good thing as it would make close-range fighting much easier, rather than be somewhat awkward than fighting underwater. There were also two English words written in large, bold letters below the dragons. Ordinal Station.

This was likely the name of the space station they were on, but the name Ordinal struck a strange chord with the Black Swordsman. He felt like he had heard that word before, but he couldn't remember where.

"I'd ask why this space station has artificial gravity, but it's probably just convenience for us Burst Linkers," Thorrnn said as the Black Legion and C.C. climbed off the dragons. Fuko also brought out her wheelchair so that she could move on her own.

Silica questioned how they were going to get inside, only for Klein to notice an airlock door a few meters from their position. The group went to investigate and saw that there was a green console right by the door. Unfortunately, when Kirito tried to activate it, the console simply gave him a slight electric shock and told him "accessed denied". Even C.C. was surprised to see this as she knew from her long experience within the Accelerated World, that there weren't any areas that prevented Burst Linkers from entering.

"Crap," Kirito said in annoyance as his hands were still recovering from the surprise electrical shock. "Now what?"

"Let me try," C.C. offered as she moved the dual-wielder aside and prepared to access the console. If these were any other Burst Linkers, she would never choose to voluntarily help them, but since her creator had told her to gain Marth's trust, she saw this as another opportunity to do so.

Surprisingly, as soon as her fingers touched the screen, a prompt to open the airlock appeared. The AI had a feeling that this wasn't a coincidence, as did Kirito, Marth and Kuroba. However, she pushed that feeling of suspicion aside and selected the yes button. The airlock opened with a hiss, revealing a gray and white metal hallway with artificial lights embedded in the corners.

"I guess we should be glad you came along with us, C.C.," Asuna commented.

"Yeah," Klein agreed. "We would have been stuck without you."

C.C. smiled with pride. It was nice getting praise, even from total strangers. "Well even AIs have uses," she replied, looking at Kuroba with a smug expression to deliberately irritate her. She was not oblivious to the Black King's irritation of her. "Right, Marth?"

Kuroba let out a light growl as she gritted her teeth in frustration. Her boyfriend didn't notice and only sheepishly said, "Uh, yeah. I guess so."

The fairy prepared to utter a retort, only for her dragon to stop her. _Mistress,_ Black Rose spoke up. _Seeing how we cannot fit within this structure, Stardust and I will return to our cards. If you have need of us again, simply utter a special incantation and we will appear. We will send our incantations into your minds immediately._

"Okay," Kuroba replied, briefly swallowing her frustration for the green-haired AI. "Thank you for your help."

Black Rose Dragon let out a slight growl and seemed to smile. _You're welcome, my lady._ Once she finished speaking, both her and Stardust dissolved into particles of purple and white light respectively before returning to card form. Those cards then returned to their owners, but instead of returning to their hands, the cards simply disappeared within their bodies.

"Whoa," Kirito said in surprise. He could feel his dragon residing within him, its consciousness asleep. "I didn't know they could do that."

"It's probably to make it easier for us to summon them," Kuroba theorized. "If we had to keep bringing out their cards to summon our dragons, it would take too long, plus it puts their cards at risk. Anyway, let's go."

Without even waiting for a response, Kuroba grabbed Marth by his right arm and started dragging him inside rather forcefully, much to his surprise. She wanted to minimize C.C.'s interactions with her boyfriend as much as possible. Unfortunately for her, all she was doing was amusing the android. The others soon followed, though they were confused by the Black King's behavior. Unbeknownst to them, while the airlock did close, it certainly wasn't locked.

It took several minutes of walking aimlessly before Marth managed to convince the fairy to let go of him. The masks that they had acquired also retracted, likely because they were no longer in the vacuum of space.

"You alright, Kuroba?" Marth asked in concern. "You haven't dragged me like that in months."

"I'm…fine," she said slowly, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "I just don't like that _girl_."

The Dark Swordsman raised an eyebrow in confusion before he realized who she was talking about.

"Oh, I see," he replied. "Unfortunately, we might need her if we want to make any progress in this station. Do you think you can tolerate her for a little longer?"

Kuroba paused for a moment as she debated it within her mind. It was definitely true that they will need C.C. in order to explore this place since she seems to be able to manipulate the system consoles. To that end, she could at least tolerate the AI's presence, but she will not allow the greenette to get any closer with her boyfriend.

"Fine," she said in defeat. "Just keep her away from me and I promise I won't sever her head from her body."

Despite the death threat to the AI, Marth simply cracked a smile. Such a comment was common to hear from the Black King after all. "Deal."

Kuroba smiled back before they continued down the metal hallway. There wasn't any kind of map on the walls, indicating where they were or any hints of where to go. How typical of Brain Burst. This is a harsh game where if you lose all your Burst Points, you are effectively banished from this world forever. It will not hold your hand. Unfortunately, since there were a lot of hallways and intersections, moving about became very confusing for the Black Legion.

"Hey, I think we've been past this room already," Klein commented as they kept walking.

"You're imagining things, Klein," Sinon replied as they made a left turn. "We can't have gone past here already."

"I'm serious," the samurai assured. "We've been here too. At least three times already. Look!"

Kirito glanced at where Red Shogun was pointing and saw a small sign with the words "Research Lab 30" in glowing blue letters by a closed metal door. He had definitely seen that in his peripheral before.

He let out a silent curse. "Klein's right," he agreed as they stopped walking. "We're going in circles."

"That's just great," Thorrnn said sarcastically. "What should we do now?"

"Should we split up?" Silica questioned.

"No, that would be a bad idea," Fuko voiced. "With how confusing this station is and how the Unlimited Neutral Field works, splitting up would not be ideal. Plus this stage is new, so we don't know what kind of Enemies will spawn here or how powerful they are. Staying together would be more beneficial to our survival."

"That may be true," Asuna added. "But these halls are pretty narrow. Most of us here are speed-types, which means fighting here will be difficult since we have less room to move."

Leafa nodded in agreement. "Asuna's right. Plus we can't fly here for the same reason. Our options are really limited here."

Marth held his chin with one hand as he pondered on what to do. They definitely couldn't keep moving around blindly. They'd be lucky to just find the exit through that method. They needed to find a way to navigate through this station to reach its depths. But how can they do that without a map?

Suddenly a cold sensation ran down his neck, the hairs sticking up. It was his Hypersense warning him of a killing intent! He reflexively drew Lunara from its sheath and turned around to just barely block a red laser blast that would have hit the center of his upper back. What was once an empty hallway now had six robotic humanoids with white and black plating on both sides. Some were wielding strange futuristic guns while others had swords with red energy blades.

"Shit!" Klein cursed as the others drew their weapons and got into fighting stances. "Where'd these guys come from?!"

"Fight now, ask questions later," Kirito said quickly. "Klein, you, Silica and Thorrnn will handle back. Me, Kuroba and Marth will fight the ones in front. Asuna and the others will stay where they are to provide support."

"Roger that," Sinon acknowledged as she nocked an arrow on her bowstring.

The Black Legion got into their respective positions and the battle began. Fuko watched as her Legion Master charged at the melee robots, her arm swords raised to protect her chest, while Marth and Kirito did battle with the gun wielders. She was surprised to see the Darkness Duo being able to cut through the laser blasts with their swords. She did remember reading about them deflecting bullets in the long-gone Gun Gale Online game, but that was thanks to the combination of the Bullet Prediction Line system plus their unnaturally fast reaction time. In Brain Burst, neither swordsman had the former, which meant that they were relying on their instincts alone. It was truly incredible.

Seeing that the front was well secure, Fuko turned to see that Klein and his team were holding their own too. The self-proclaimed samurai may be a goofball most of the time, but even he can get serious when the need arises, clearly a skill he had gained from his time in Sword Art Online. Klein was doing quite well with holding off the melee robots with his katana. His defenses were better than most of the present Nega Nebulus members, though that meant that his speed was lower. This did mean that he can adapt quicker to tighter spaces though.

The samurai ducked to avoid one slash aimed at his head and countered by slashing into the robot's waist, causing it to collapse on the floor. The second robot attempted to strike his back immediately after, but Klein quickly turned around and blocked it with his blade. Sparks danced into the air while their blades locked together. The third robot charged at the occupied Burst Linker, only to get an ice arrow in the head, knocking it off-balance as frost quickly gathered around it.

"Thanks, Sinon!" Klein called out before he forced his opponent back and began unleashing a flurry of slashes with his katana, some of them hitting their mark while others were blocked.

"No problem," the sniper replied simply as she readied another arrow to take out the freezing Enemy.

Thorrnn and Silica were battling the ranged robots together, with the green avatar acting as an evasion tank, keeping the attention on her while dodging lasers as Silica did hit and run attacks while they were distracted. Fuko had to give the female half-demon credit. Despite the confined space, the Dusk Remnant was doing well to evade the Enemy projectiles. Granted, the blasts aren't very big, but it was still impressive to see the girl being capable of evading them with the limited amount of room.

"Haa!" the rapier-wielder cried out as her weapon became a blur, the blade glowing blue, as she delivered a flurry of thrusts on the nearest robot, the rapier Sword Skill, Star Splash. Its armor became badly damaged with oil leaking out of the holes. It let out a groan before Thorrnn finished it off by embedding her blade within its chest, right where the heart would be, landing a critical hit. The robot disappeared instantly.

The two remaining ranged robots prepared to shoot the girl during her post-motion delay, but Silica stopped them by striking their backs with a spinning slash from her dagger. Asuna and Leafa were the only other Black Legion members who weren't doing anything, but they still stood ready in case someone needed a heal (Asuna) or ranged support (Leafa). C.C. wasn't doing anything either, but since she wasn't a member of Nega Nebulus, she didn't really have much motivation to help. The AI, however, was keeping a close eye on the battlefield, as if waiting for a potential stray attack that would either hit her or the other standby members.

Fuko, however, had no choice but to stay on standby. With her legs still missing, her combat potential is very limited. The floor was flat enough for her to move about safely, but with the limited space, she would only get in the way of her teammates. It saddened her that she couldn't be of much help to her King as well as the boy who helped reunite them.

She felt so useless like this. But this was her punishment, what she deserved for arrogantly believing that she could touch the sky by having her legs severed by the blade of Black Lotus. It wasn't a glitch or Brain Burst itself that kept her legs from regenerating. It was Fuko herself that kept them as stubs through the Incarnate System. Three years ago, she had foolishly thought that she could soar through the sky with the combination of Gale Thruster and a sacrifice. The sacrifice was, of course, her legs. It was practically a deal with the devil. However, all it did was increase her maximum altitude to a mere one hundred meters. Her legs never returned, no matter how many times she returned to this world.

The saddest part of it is that she no longer knew how to undo the damage. Asuna's healing magic couldn't do anything and while Rias didn't know about her condition, it was unknown whether the demoness could restore the sky-blue avatar's legs. Fuko had returned to the Black Legion at Kuroba's request and help the fairy reach level 10, but she never joined fights where she felt that she would be a hinderance. She initially didn't want to go on this trip for that reason, but Kirito and Kuroba convinced her otherwise, with the Black Swordsman being pretty insistent.

 _"It's hopeless,"_ Fuko thought to herself. _"I'll never touch the sky, much less get my legs back. I'm useless to Kuroba now."_

A strange cry suddenly echoed within her mind. It sounded…draconic. Before Fuko could even question it, she noticed that the battle had ended in Nega Nebulus's victory. Asuna was using her Hydro Force to heal anyone that got injured during the struggle, thankfully it was only minor injuries.

"Alright!" Klein said in triumph as he rolled his right shoulder. "Those guys weren't much trouble."

"Yeah," Marth agreed. "Those Enemies were pretty weak. Hardly even a challenge."

Kirito was strangely silent. Fuko turned and saw that he seemed to be messing with a small black device that was barely bigger than his hand. He must have gotten that as a drop from the robots. The level 8 Burst Linker couldn't help but wonder what it could be.

Suddenly Kirito shouted, "Alright! This is awesome!"

Everyone turned towards the swordsman in surprise. "What is it, Kazuto?" Leafa questioned.

Kirito turned to face his teammates and showed them the device. "Take a look at this." He pressed a button on the side of the device. A faint light then came out of the top from a circular bulb before the light turned into a hologram. It wasn't just any hologram though. It was a map of the floor! It even included cursors that revealed the location of the Black Legion.

"No way!" Thorrnn exclaimed in shock. "Those Enemies can drop a map of this place?!"

"Looks that way," Kirito replied. "Now we can finally make some progress here. According to this map, there's four floors in this station. We're on the first floor and this device doesn't have any data on the other floors. However, this device has a memory card port, which means we might be able to get other memory cards that contain the missing data."

"Nice!" Klein said in excitement as he slammed his fists together. "I'll bet my katana that the Enemies here will drop those missing memory cards. All we gotta do is beat enough of them to get the cards to drop."

Everyone except Fuko and C.C. cheered before they all continued into the space station, with Kirito leading them on. Fuko was trailing behind, however, still wondering whether or not she can even help her Legion Master with her avatar in this state. While the other members of the original Nega Nebulus were gone, Kuroba managed to get the aid of the Alfheim Warriors, minus Lisbeth, who had joined Arcanos and his lot. She just couldn't help her King the same way she used to.

"You okay?"

Fuko let out a gasp as she noticed that Marth was pushing her wheelchair. Apparently she must have stopped using Incarnation to move the wheels herself, so the Dark Swordsman must have decided to push the chair himself.

"Y-yes," she said, trying to keep a calm tone. "I was just…lost in thought."

"Happens to all of us. What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing important," she passed off, hoping that the half-demon wouldn't press further. "Don't worry about it."

Marth was silent for a moment before finally speaking again. "I'm really grateful that you lent me your wings," he said sincerely. "It really helped me break free from Vise's grasp and allowed me to do battle with Arcanos. I can see why you were one of the strongest members of the first Nega Nebulus."

Fuko struggled to contain her surprise. She certainly didn't expect him to praise her like that. Did he somehow know that she was doubting herself and was trying to console her? There are many people who scorn the half-demon simply because he was different. Because of this, Marth doesn't show his emotions that much when in public. But there were a few people like Fuko who could see through the mask he wore. This act is one of the many examples that he did care about others, despite the poor treatment he had received from life. She felt happy that she was one of the few that the Dark Swordsman cares about.

"Thank you," she replied with a smile. "I had a feeling that you would need it and I knew I could trust you with it." She then found herself thinking about her first meeting with the half-demon in the real world. "Hey, Marth, when you said that you'd fight to protect me, did you mean it?"

Marth reeled back in surprise, but managed to quickly recover. "Oh, you remember that." He fell silent for a moment, likely debating on what to say. "Yeah, I did. As you know, I've never had the greatest track record with making friends since most people either shunned me or bullied me. Because of that, and the trauma I went through, I don't open up to others much. There are only a handful of people that I trusted enough to do that."

"And I'm one of them?"

"Yes. You're one of the few that I can truly call a friend. That's why I trusted you with the knowledge of my…condition. I've seen a lot of people, including friends die. I refuse to let that happen again."

"I see," Fuko said curiously. "Now I know how you have so many female friends. You're quite the charmer."

Marth let out a surprised grunt before following it up with a heavy sigh, much to the female avatar's amusement. "Should've figured you'd say something like that," he said slowly.

Sky Raker simply giggled. "I'm in a wheelchair," she said innocently. "I have to have some fun."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say." Despite being annoyed about the teasing statement, Marth couldn't bring himself to get mad at the girl. He suddenly stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder. That strange feeling he got at the Hermes' Chord was back.

"Is something wrong?" Fuko questioned, wondering why they had stopped.

Marth stared at the empty hall for a few seconds, waiting for something to show up, but nothing appeared. He simply shook his head and pushed the feeling aside.

"No," he said dismissively. He then continued down the hall, pushing the wheelchair as he did so.

* * *

It took about two hours for the Black Legion to reach the depths of the Ordinal Station. They had to fight dozens of Enemies to get the memory cards they needed to successfully navigate the labyrinth-like halls, all of which were machine type monsters. The room they were in was very big, with the ceiling towering over them. There were a handful of large metal crates scattered everywhere, but what really drew the group's attention was a black pod with purple glass that was located in the center.

"This is it?" Sinon commented, sounding disappointed. "We came all this way for a storage room?"

"I don't know," Kirito replied as he and Marth went over to the pod to get a closer inspection. There was a console beside it, likely to access whatever is in the pod. Out of curiosity, Kirito started to mess around with it. Unfortunately, just like the airlock console, it would not allow him to touch it.

"Damn it. C.C., can you open this pod for us?"

"Maybe, but are you sure that's a good idea?" C.C. questioned. "There could be a powerful Enemy lurking within that pod."

"I know that," he replied as the others came closer. "But there might be something interesting in that pod. If it's an Enemy that we can't beat on our own, Kuroba and I can just summon our dragons since there's enough space for them here."

The greenette simply shrugged dismissively. "Whatever." She then got to work and began making several different inputs on the console. After about thirty seconds, she finally got the prompt to open the pod. She glanced at Kirito, who was standing beside her, who simply gave her a nod. C.C. pressed confirmation button, prompting the pod to begin opening with a hiss.

Steam shot out of the pod as the purple glass retracted, revealing the sleeping figure inside. The figure was a teenage girl with long, straight white hair. She had a slender body and legs, similar to that of a fairy. She wore a futuristic black and purple one-piece dress, black thigh-high socks and heeled boots and red ribbons in her hair. For some reason, the SAO Survivors got a feeling of familiarity upon seeing the girl, especially Marth.

Before anyone could say anything, the girl suddenly tumbled out of the pod. Marth, being the closest, quickly managed to catch her in his arms before she could hit the ground. After a few seconds, she let out a yawn before opening her ruby-red eyes.

"Is it time to get up already?" the girl said tiredly while Marth set her down. She then noticed that she wasn't alone. "Oh, hi! Are you the ones who woke me up?"

"Uh, yeah," Asuna said nervously, unsure how to react. The girl definitely wasn't a Burst Linker and no Enemy had the ability to speak. Was she an AI like C.C. then? "Who are you? What were you doing in that pod?"

The girl cocked her head to the side. "You don't know me? Did people already forget about me? My name's Yuna, the AI idol."

"Yuna?!" Klein and Leafa shouted in shock while Marth flinched. All three of them knew that name, though the half-demon knew through different means.

"Mind filling us in, you two?" Sinon spoke up.

Leafa turned towards the archer in surprise. "How do you _not_ know who Yuna is? Yuna's the first AI idol to ever be created. Her artificial intelligence was the considered to be the most advanced during our era. She even had a few live concerts and helped soothe people during the Demon War with her songs."

"Yeah!" Klein agreed. "I've been a huge fan of her even before that war happened. When my memories returned, I did some research and found out that Yuna had disappeared thirty years, right around the end of the Demon War."

"What?!" Kirito exclaimed. "But how can that be? She wasn't there when Critias, Fenris, and Remus's spirits sent us to this era to follow Marth?"

Leafa simply shook her head. "Well Lisbeth managed to get to this era without them, so it wouldn't be too far-fetched that other people may have found ways to come here." She glanced over at the diva. "How did you get here, Yuna?"

Yuna looked puzzled, which was understandable since she most likely didn't know the situation. "Hmm," she mused, putting her finger just below her mouth. "I remember wrapping up a rehearsal for a concert to celebrate Japan's victory in the Demon War and going to sleep. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in a strange world with these strange game avatars, like the ones you guys have."

"Hold on," Kuroba interrupted. "You're saying that you woke up in Brain Burst? But this game didn't exist back in the Demon War."

The idol simply shrugged. "So I'm told. Anyway, soon after that, two people appeared before me and told me where I was. It was quite a shock learning that twenty-five years had passed in the real world. I didn't know what to do anymore since I've been missing for so long. Luckily they were kind enough to offer me a place here in this world, although I did have to sleep in that pod for some reason they didn't really explain."

"I see," Kirito mused. He wondered who those two individuals were. If he had to guess, it was possible that the ones who appeared before Yuna were none other than the creators of Brain Burst themselves. To his knowledge, no one has ever met the creators of this world, nor did they interfere with its fate. Just what was going on here.

Before he could question the diva further, he suddenly felt a dark presence draw closer. He turned around and saw a fair-skinned man with blonde hair and blue eyes. The man was garbed in red and gold armor with a black cape and boots. He wielded a strange red sword that had a bat-like hilt and a black gemstone in the center. The dark presence was coming from him, meaning he was likely not human.

"Who are you?!" Kirito demanded as he drew his swords while the others took notice of the new arrival and did the same, minus Yuna.

The man simply chuckled. "So it's true what they say," the stranger mused. "Remnants really don't remember their past lives." He glanced over at Marth and Thorrnn, his eyes tinged with regret. "Zane and Lucia… No, I should call you by your new names. Marth and Thorrnn, I wish we could have met under different circumstances. Maybe then, we wouldn't be on opposite sides."

Marth narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "What do you mean by that?" he asked skeptically.

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with. Anyway, I should introduce myself. I am Lucius, the sixth demon lord. I am also," he opened his other hand, prompting a card with a black and purple dragon to materialize and hover, "the master of a Galaxy Eyes."

Kirito let out a gasp in shock. Not only was this man a demon lord, a title only given to the strongest demons, but he also had a dragon of his own. He could feel a powerful presence coming from the duo. It honestly frightened him a little. If that dragon was as powerful as either Stardust or Black Rose, then this could spell trouble for him and his friends. Unbeknownst to him, Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon was reacting within his partner's pocket.

 _"Stardust, can you handle that dragon?"_ he asked in his head.

The white dragon let out a hesitant growl. _Maybe, but I don't like our odds. We dragons share a link with our masters. When they grow stronger, so do we. If this Galaxy Eyes is partnered with a man as powerful as him, then it's safe to say that it will be much stronger than normal._

The Black Swordsman silently cursed. He was afraid of that answer. He ran through his brain as he struggled to come up with a solution. Unfortunately, Klein decided to take the tense moment to open his big mouth.

"Even if you have a dragon, do you really think you can take all of us on?" the samurai goaded with a confident smirk. "We've got two dragons and more fighters. There's no way you can beat us!"

Despite the provocation, Lucius remained unfazed. In fact, he looked to be smiling at the challenge. "You humans are as reckless as ever," he said calmly. "Always running your mouths, even in the face of danger. It's honestly amusing." His eyes became serious, his gaze so intense it caused everyone else to freeze up. "However, I am not here to battle all of you at once. I am only here to fight one person. And that person," he locked eyes with Marth, "is you, my fellow Galaxy Eyes master."

"Why do you want to fight me?" the Dark Swordsman questioned, though he had the feeling he already knew the answer given that his dragon card was practically heating up in anticipation. Even though he has yet to summon his dragon, it clearly wanted to fight.

"Isn't it obvious? Our dragons are destined to fight each other. There can only be one Galaxy Eyes after all."

"And what makes you think we'll let you fight my brother alone?!" Thorrnn retorted bitterly. She didn't care about some destiny between the two galaxy dragons. Anyone that is after her brother is her enemy. She refuses to let anyone take him from her.

Suddenly dozens of robots, ranging from humanoid to beast shapes, spawned into the storage room, surrounding the Black Legion. A purple magic circle then appeared above the demon lord's head, releasing a black miasma of darkness that enveloped the Enemies. This is a spell that causes the monsters of this world to become subservient to the demons.

"I believe the rest of you will be quite busy dealing with them to stop me," Lucius answered. His dragon card was pulsing with a purple energy. It clearly wanted to be let out to fight its rival. "Very well, Tachyon. Let us bring out your opponent by force."

A swirling black galaxy appeared behind the demon lord. The dragon card became a streak of purple light before it soared above and then descended into the center of the galaxy. "Roar throughout the entire universe," Lucius chanted, his voice echoing as a wind of power blasted through the room. "Revive from the source of all galaxies, that flows from far back in time!" A pillar of black and purple light shot out of the dark galaxy and the sound of a loud roar immediately followed. "Manifest yourself and lead me to victory. Come forth, Galaxy Eyes Tachyon Dragon!"

A massive black and red triangular prism appeared from the pillar of light. Body parts soon sprung out of the object. Three thin tails, a set of wings with purple lines, bipedal legs, two arms, and finally a draconic head. The mechanical dragon roared as soon as the transformation finished. Even the Enemies flinched from the ferocity within its cry.

"No way," Silica said in fear, her body trembling.

"Tch," Kuroba grunted. She could feel the incredible power contained within the Tachyon Dragon. She'll need to respond with her own if she and her friends were going to survive this. "Chilling flames engulf the…"

 _Don't even try summoning your dragon!_ The mechanical dragon screeched. _My prey is the Photon Dragon, not the Black Rose. If you even attempt to bring out any other dragons to fight me, I'll kill you all!_

The Black King groaned in frustration as she was forced to stop her incantation. This dragon was clearly set on fighting Marth's dragon one-on-one and wouldn't tolerate any interference. The problem is that her boyfriend has yet to even summon his dragon to defend himself. She couldn't help but fear on what the enemy will do to bring it out.

"Well?" Lucius spoke up, gazing at the male half-demon. "Bring out your dragon so we can begin."

Marth was silent for a few moments, his bangs covering his eyes. Finally he said, "I can't. I don't know how."

 _Is that so?_ Tachyon questioned, its red eyes suddenly flashing. _Well then I'll just bring it out myself!_

Energy particles began funneling into its mouth as the light in the red lines around its body intensified. It was readying its breath attack, Tachyon Stream of Annihilation! It unleashed a concentrated beam of black energy at the group, but they weren't the main target. The main target was…

"Sister, look out!" Marth shouted as he pushed Fencer aside to move her out of range. However, there was no time for him to avoid it himself. It was doubtful he could survive a head-on blast even if he attempted to block it with any of his special moves.

"Brother!" Thorrnn cried out in worry as she found herself lying on the metal floor.

"Marth!" Kuroba and Kirito added as they rushed to help the Blade Eater, but they wouldn't make it in time to help.

Right before the breath attack would have hit Black Wolf, an intense burst of blue light shot out in front of him, taking the attack instead. A large red shuriken of a strange design acted as the core of the light. The shuriken starting spinning with multi-colored particles coalescing around it. First two large light blue arms shot out from the horizontal segments of the object. A sharp menacing tail appeared from the bottom vertical piece. A head emerged from the top part of the shuriken, while center became its main body. Glowing blue wings sprouted from the creature's back. Once the transformation was complete, the new dragon unleashed an ear-splitting roar that shook the room.

"Incredible," Lucius said in awe as he admired the new arrival. "It's here."

Tachyon Dragon simply chuckled as it saw its rival. _About time you showed up, Photon,_ it said arrogantly. _I had a feeling threatening your master would force you to manifest._

The other dragon's eyes flashed with anger. _You will regret that, dearly, Tachyon,_ the photon dragon threatened. _I will not let anyone harm my master. Not even you._

The air became tense as Nega Nebulus readied for battle. Fuko, on the other hand, couldn't help but worry for Marth. He may have fought against another demon lord by himself, albeit briefly, but that was thanks to the combination of his aviation ability and Gale Thruster. But he doesn't have the Enhanced Armament anymore. Could he really defeat a demon lord in his current state?

 _"Marth,"_ she thought to herself in concern. Unbeknownst to her, her dragon card began glowing from within her item storage, as if responding to her wish.

**To be continued**

* * *

**Sorry for the late update. Age of Calamity and WoW Shadowlands have been eating up my free time, not to mention the occasional writer's block. Just as a disclaimer, the only ones who will use incantations to summon their dragons are the ones that have canon chants, like Stardust and Black Rose. This is because I suck at coming up with original chants, hence why I always cut them out when the characters use spells. Anyway, this should be the second-to-last chapter in the Hermes' Cradle arc. Once that's done, I can finally start on the Chrome Disaster Returns arc. I'll see you guys next time!**


	38. Fuko's Wish

**May 23, 2056**

To say that the Battle of Ordinal Station was chaotic would be an understatement. It was hard for Fuko to even process what was happening around her as she acted as a protector for Yuna, the AI diva. The robotic Enemies that had spawned in were a lot stronger than the ones from the upper floors, making them much harder to take out. Asuna was practically working overtime to make sure everyone's health was up. Not helping them was that new Enemies kept respawning, making it impossible for them to make any real progress.

Then there was the battle between the two Galaxy dragons and their masters. Photon seemed to be holding its own against its rival, but the blue duel avatar could sense a greater power dwelling within the mechanical dragon. She couldn't help but worry about what would happen if that power was unleashed.

She kept tossing glances over at Black Wolf, who was struggling to hold back Lucius. Marth had donned his Dark Swordsman appearance, likely to boost his power, but his coat was already covered in cuts. If Lunara and Solaris weren't unbreakable, they would most likely be chipped from blocking Lucius's attacks or being repelled by his impregnable crimson shield.

 _"This isn't good,"_ Fuko thought as she pierced a spider robot's face with a thrust of her right hand, killing it instantly. _"At this rate, we'll be overwhelmed. But I can't do anything to turn the tide with my legs gone."_

Meanwhile, Kirito was fighting like hell trying to cut down any robots that came his way. His dual swords lit up from the light of his Sword Skills as they went through metal armor like a hot knife through butter. He had to clear a path to his best friend as soon as possible. It took the combined might of all the Alfheim Warriors to fight the False Demon King Zarc to a somewhat standstill. Marth may be powerful, but even he cannot hope to defeat a demon lord by himself.

Unfortunately for the Black Swordsman, Brain Burst itself seemed to be against such an idea as the Enemies just keep respawning so quickly. Every time he cuts down one monster, two more suddenly appear. It won't be long before they are overwhelmed. If only he could summon his dragon. Stardust could definitely turn the tide if he appeared. Unfortunately the battlefield was too chaotic for Kirito to focus enough to even think the incantation to summon the dragon, plus there was Tachyon's looming threat. The mechanical dragon threatened to wipe out the party if any other dragon besides Photon interfered.

Kirito snapped out of his thoughts as he narrowly avoided a laser blade to the chest from another robot before blocking it with his right sword, sparks dancing in the air. The Enemy was putting intense pressure into the blade, as if it was trying to crush the swordsman into the metal floor.

 _Calm yourself, my lord,_ Stardust spoke up within his mind as Kirito struggled to get out of the swordlock. _If things get dire enough, I will use my own energy to manifest myself in this world. Tachyon's threat will not stop me from my duty of protecting you._

"Thanks Stardust," Kirito said through gritted teeth. When his dragon implanted the incantation within Graphite Edge's mind, he also gained a basic understanding of how the dragons worked within the Accelerated World. They were sort of treated as tamed Enemies and had their own HP and special-move gauges. However, they also shared similarities with demons as they are able to enter this world via magic.

The first method involves their chosen partner saying a certain incantation while channeling their mana to summon them, with the partner acting as an anchor of sorts. The other method, and arguably the more dangerous one, involved the dragon using its own mana supply to summon itself, bypassing the incantation. While it was faster than the former, it leaves the dragon in a weakened state and will have to rely on a very limited supply of mana before inevitably fading away to recover. If their partner was skilled enough, the dragon could receive mana from them to maintain their form and use their abilities, but no one in Nega Nebulus are at that level, at least right now.

Kirito looked over his shoulder at the Photon Dragon. He could see its movements already becoming sluggish and struggling to fend off its fellow Galaxy Eyes. It was an unfair battle through and through. Not only did Photon have to use its own mana to come here, but it also took a direct attack to shield its master from Tachyon's cheap attack.

 _"Not good,"_ he thought hastily. _"If Photon Dragon is defeated, we'll be at the mercy of Tachyon. There's got to be a way we can even the odds."_

As he was wracking his brain to think of a solution, Yuna was watching the battle unfold. She didn't understand what was going on or how that man managed to take control of all these monsters, not to mention the talking dragons, but she pushed those thoughts aside. This battle reminded her of the dark days of the Demon War. She could still picture the screams of terror and pain as people either fled to safety or battled the invading monsters. She also participated in that terrible war. Not as a combatant, but as a supporter, helping the fighters with her songs.

 _"Well then. It's time for the virtual diva to make her comeback,"_ Yuna declared as she summoned a black-and-red circular microphone in her right hand. " _Te ni ireru yo kitto…_ " (I'll definitely obtain it—I'm sure I will…)

Suddenly a purple light enveloped Yuna's body before it spread to the struggling Black Legion members, aside from Marth as he was too far away. Immediately afterward, a variety of different buffs popped up under their health gauges, like attack/defense increase to even health regeneration (albeit a slow one).

"What the…?" Klein said in disbelief as he felt a new power surging within him. Two robots attempted to jump the samurai during his pause, but his newfound speed allowed him to evade while his increased strength allowed him to cut them down with a single Sword Skill from his katana.

Kuroba, who had been fighting five mechanical Enemies at once to protect Sinon, took a short pause to process what just happened. _"It appears that Yuna has the ability to buff players with her songs,"_ she realized. _"As long as she's singing, they'll remain active. This may be useful for us."_

 _My lady,_ Black Rose spoke up, _Yuna has given you an opening. Take advantage of it to destroy your enemies._

The Black King simply smirked at that as she readied her swords. "You don't have to tell me twice," she said before shouting, "Everyone, protect Yuna! Once we clear a path, we hurry to Marth's side."

"Right!" the others cried out in acknowledgement.

Suddenly Kuroba felt a deep pain from within her very being. It was as if her very soul was injured by an unseen force. While it did confuse her, she knew what it meant. Her beloved was losing against his opponent, and this battle may even cost him his life. She had to hurry before it is too late.

* * *

Marth was in trouble. He knew for certain of that. Demon lords certainly held true to their reputation of being the strongest demons in existence. His adopted mother, Rias, had once told him that the demon lords were once revered as the champions of the Shadow Goddess, Sinestra. Each lord possessed a certain aptitude, and by doing a certain ritual, would be infused with a part of Sinestra's power, making them even stronger than normal. They were all united to protect their Goddess and her lands from all threats. That is, until Zeta came and radicalized some of the demon lords with his words and brought about the Purge of Obsidia. Now the once respected title only brings fear to all people, whether they be human, fairy or demon.

Lucius was no slouch in combat. If he saw an opening, he would exploit it to no end. It took everything Marth had to minimize the amount of damage he took by either blocking or evading the man's attacks. It didn't help that Lucius was _faster_ than him. Early in his days as a Burst Linker, the day that Kuroba had saved him from Araya's cowardly attack, she told the half-demon that he was the fastest Burst Linker to ever exist, that he could surpass even the Kings of Pure Color. The skills and reaction time that Marth forged in that game of death so long ago were what kept him above most Burst Linkers.

However, in all his years of fighting in VRMMOs, he has never fought an opponent who could move faster than him. The closest ones would be Asuna and Thorrnn with their lightning-fast rapier skills. Lucius, however, could run laps around them for all he cared. Despite wearing heavy armor, Lucius's movements were not impeded in the slightest. If anything, it was almost as if he was _holding back_ by wearing it. Every move he made was precise and true.

Marth broke off from his opponent before he readied a Vorpal Strike with Lunara, the blade becoming a bloodred. Using the momentum of the Sword Skill, he pushed himself forward and lunged his sword with a howl. Lucius's face remained impassive as he raised his shield to defend. The black sword made impact with the shield but couldn't break through. Instead all Marth could do was harmlessly slide past the older opponent. However, as he did so, Lucius used that time to strike the younger demon in the waist, sending him crashing into a metal crate.

"Gaaah!" Marth cried out as pain flared across his body. If this was the real world, the impact probably would've broken some of his bones, but thankfully Brain Burst wasn't _that_ realistic. He fell to one knee while using Lunara as support for his upper body. He struggled to even breathe. His body hurt that much.

Lucius slowly approached the downed teen, his footsteps echoing within the large room. He seemed almost…disappointed. "Is that really all you can do, Marth?" he questioned. "I know that Remnants essentially start from scratch when they are reborn, but I would have assumed you would have regained most of your power by now." He then eyed the core crystal on Marth's chest. "Is that thing responsible for this?"

"Ngh, I guess you can say that," Marth replied back as he struggled to gain the strength to even stand. He thought about staying silent, but he saw no point in it. "Let's just say that I haven't fully awakened yet."

"I see. How unfortunate." Lucius raised his sword up, his eyes full of pity. "I'm afraid this is the end for you. May your soul return to our Goddess's embrace."

Photon wasn't much better off as he was getting hammered by Tachyon's attacks. The battle may have started out as a stalemate, but because of Photon's summoning conditions and his master's inexperience, that stalemate quickly ended. Now the blue Galaxy Dragon was on his knees, unable to go to his master's aid.

 _What a shame,_ Tachyon said cynically. _I expected you to put up a much better fight than this. Fine by me. Once I destroy you, I can become the strongest Galaxy Eyes to ever live._

Photon could only growl at that. _The others will stop you and your master,_ he retorted. _I assure you of that._

 _They can certainly try, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. Time to finish you._ Dark energy began gathering around Tachyon's mouth. It was readying its breath attack.

"Nooo!"

* * *

Fuko couldn't believe her eyes. The Dark Swordsman, Marth, was lying defeated by the hands of the demon lord, Lucius. Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon's strength was drained as well. Thanks to Yuna's buffs, she and the Black Legion were making progress with defeating the remaining Enemies, but they would be too late to save their downed comrades.

Panic was surging throughout her entire body and her heart pounded against her chest. Marth had sworn that he would protect her and yet she can't do the same when he needs help the most. She is just worthless now. She couldn't hold back the tears and wept.

_Get a hold of yourself._

Fuko opened her eyes and found herself alone within a dark room. It was silent and completely closed off. She was isolated from her friends.

"Where…am I?" she asked herself.

A loud growl could be heard within the room. It sounded like it came from every direction. Sky Raker immediately went on-guard for a possible attack.

_Are you intending to leave that boy to his fate? He will perish if you do not help him._

"I can't," Fuko said weakly as she choked back a sob. "Without my legs, I'm worthless to Nega Nebulus." Once again, tears began leaking out of her eyes. "And it's all my fault. I knew that pursuing my wish to touch the sky would cost me something absolute, but I was too stubborn to stop. I chose to sacrifice my legs to power up my Incarnation so I could fly, but I couldn't reach the sky even then."

Anyone who knows about the Incarnate System knows that it requires the players to confront their own mental scars if they seek to master it. Powerful imagination could only be born from a powerful wish, and a wish was nothing other than the flip side of a lacking. Unless you can turned toward and occasionally entered the emotional holes that made up the core of your duel avatar, holes so dark you wanted to forget they were even there, you would never be able to obtain sufficient power to produce a large overwrite.

That's what Fuko did three years ago. She cut off her legs to purify this lacking within herself, and then used the Incarnate System to increase the power of Boost Jump she'd been given to the point where it was Flight. However, even then she could just barely reach the top of the old Tokyo Tower. Her wish nearly destroyed her friendship with Kuroba in the process.

The voice let out a groan. _You sure love to beat yourself up, don't you? Neither Marth or Kuroba blame you for your decisions. You have friends that care for you. If you do not stand up, they will die._

"But what can I do?!" Fuko snapped. "I'm completely powerless as I am now."

_No. You are stronger than you think. Remember…remember who you are…who you were._

The area around Fuko flashed with a strange light before she found herself on a meadow. There were countless numbers of flowers of varying color scattered all the way to the horizon, all under a clear blue sky. It was truly beautiful.

A cheerful laughter soon filled the air. She turned and saw two little girls in pale green dresses running around the meadow. The first was a girl with long platinum-blonde hair and amber eyes. The second girl had long brown hair and aqua-blue eyes. They both felt…familiar to her.

"You can't catch me, Edna!" the first girl said giddily. "I'm too fast for you!"

The other girl laughed in response as she chased after her friend. "I don't think so, Celine!" Edna replied. "This time I _will_ catch you."

Fuko couldn't help but smile at the sight. But why did she feel so nostalgic over this? Before she could even question it, the scene changed once again. She was now in the courtyard of a black castle. It had half a dozen trees and a few patches of grass scattered within it.

The sounds of clashing metal could be heard nearby, revealing that she wasn't alone. There were two other people in the courtyard having a sparring match with each other. The first was a young man with shoulder-length black hair and bloodred eyes. He wore a black and red twin-tailed longcoat with red highlights, red gloves and pants, as well as black boots. He was wielding a black and gold longsword with a wing-shaped hilt that opened towards the handle with a white gemstone in the center. For some reason it reminded Fuko of two certain swords.

The second individual was a girl with long brown hair and aqua blue eyes. She was wearing sky blue armor, including a short chain-metal skirt, as well as metal gauntlets of the same color. Despite having a shorter attack range, she was doing well with keeping her opponent on his toes.

"Impressive, Edna," the swordsman spoke up as he blocked a barrage of high-speed punches and kicks with his sword. "At this rate, I may have to use my trump card to win this match. I can see why you serve as Celine's retainer."

Edna let out a chuckle as she continued her assault. "I'm honored you think so highly of me," she replied. "Prince Zane."

Zane?! As in Marth's previous life during the War of Light and Shadow? Then this was a memory from her past as well. She was a Remnant as well, just like Marth, Kuroba and Thorrnn. But how could this being know about this? Her memories of her previous life should have been lost upon her rebirth. Just what is going on here?

_Reaching the sky is not your true wish, your true desire. You know what it is, deep within your memories. Think back to your past and remember._

_"My past?"_ Fuko questioned.

Her past wasn't much of a happy one. Before she was even born, the doctors told her parents that she had a hereditary genetic defect that afflict her the moment of her birth. Rather than abort the pregnancy, her parents chose to allow Fuko to be born, but she lacked legs below her knees and was given a Neurolinker at birth to monitor her health. She later received biocompatible prosthetic legs to allow her to walk, but she still ended up silently questioning and resenting her parents for allowing her to be born as she was.

However, there was something else that she seemed to be forgetting. Something important. But what could it be and is it possible that it is related to Gale Thruster?

She shook her head to dismiss the thought while trying to fight back tears. _"I don't deserve to fly. I hurt Kuroba…with my words, my attitude, and my heart. I hurt her. The fuel for my wings contains every tear she shed back then, which is why I can never use—"_

 _Stop that thought immediately!_ The voice boomed, startling her. _You know that isn't true. The Black King didn't understand the enormity of what you carry within you. She initially wanted you to do everything for her and felt that you betrayed her. She lashed out and resented you for a time. But she doesn't think that way anymore. Right now, as of this moment, she wants you to fly. Not for her. Not for your Legion. But for you._

Fuko let out a gasp in surprise. "How do you know all this? Who are you?" she questioned.

The voice let out a chuckle before a large white figure descended and landed in front of the Burst Linker with a loud boom. The figure's body was made of white light, making it impossible to identify. The only clear feature was that it looked draconic.

 _Because we are bound together by fate,_ the figure explained, its voice sounding feminine in nature. _I know who you really are, and what you truly desire. Now is the time for you to remember and fly once again._

Fuko found herself struggling for words. Her mind raced through memories of the old days of the original Nega Nebulus, with her fighting beside her King, to her newer memories with her hanging out with Marth and his friends. Despite not knowing her for very long, the Dark Swordsman trusted her with the dark secret of his condition. Even now, after what she did, there will still people that cared for her.

Back at the bridge one month ago, Kuroba had reached out her hand to pull her back. Now it was time for Fuko to reach out her own and accept that gentle hand. Her wings, Gale Thruster, they were not full of her King's tears. They were filled with her hope, her kindness, and her love. There was no need for her to be afraid. She can fly without restraint. She knew what she had to do and the figure before her could tell.

 _Excellent, my lady,_ the white figure acknowledged. _But you will not fly alone. I shall aid you and protect our comrades._

It was at that moment that Fuko realized who she was talking to. Her eyes became firm and nodded. "Thank you," she replied. "Let's do this, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!"

She instantly found herself back in the hanger in Brain Burst with no time having passed by. Her senses going into overdrive, she examined the situation and determined that Kuroba and the others could handle the remaining Enemies. Marth, on the other hand, needed help immediately. For some reason, Fuko felt that if he died fighting against Lucius, it could potentially kill him in the real world too. She couldn't let that happen, no matter what.

But she would never get to him in time on her wheelchair, which meant that she had to fly. It was her friend's only chance for survival. This was not the time to be afraid. This is the time for action. Her confidence restored, she threw out her chest and reached both arms out towards the ceiling. Then, as if singing, Sky Raker cried out the preset equip phrase loudly.

"Calling Gale!"

The whole battlefield seemed to pause as everyone aside from Marth, Lucius and the dragons looked up and saw a twinkling blue light appear on the ceiling before it turned into laser beams pouring down, locking on to Raker in an instant. The light enveloped her entire body before quickly concentrating on her back and materializing as the streamlined silhouette of the boosters of the Enhanced Armament Gale Thruster. Her white hat and dress melted into the light, as if their presence would interfere with the equipment, revealing the slender main body of her avatar.

"No way!" Kirito said in shock. "Is she doing what I think she is?"

"Fuko," Kuroba said in pride as she watched her friend in awe.

The wheelchair disappeared next, but Fuko didn't fall to the metal floor. Two strange sky-blue lights were gathered around her severed legs, keeping her up. Immediately after Gale Thruster finished materializing, Fuko flared it to life, a loud roar coming from the boosters.

Fuko surged forward, breaking through the Enemies' lines, a trail of flames tailing her like a comet. Her speed was greater than that of Marth's when he used the Gale Thruster himself. There was no abnormal light effect coming from the booster itself though, meaning that this speed isn't a result of the Incarnate System. This was the crystallization of effort, the vast quantities of burst points she had poured into the Armament for years.

She closed the distance within an instant. Lucius with his battle-hardened instincts sensed the coming presence and jumped back to evade, but he was not the true target. Fuko quickly scooped a rather stunned Marth into her arms and carried him away before landing on a nearby metal crate. As soon as she did so, the light below her kneecaps hardened and became slim metal legs. Her avatar was back to normal, her Incarnation not holding her back any longer.

"Fuko? How? You? What?" Marth said rapidly, his brain practically going into shock.

Sky Raker simply giggled at the swordsman's reaction before gently placing him on the crate before glaring at the demon lord. "That's enough," she declared firmly while getting into a fighting stance. "I won't let you kill Marth!"

Lucius eyed the girl skeptically before it clicked in his head on who the girl was. "Interesting," he said slowly. "So you were reborn as well. Unfortunately, it is my destiny to fight the boy beside you. Just as it is fate for Tachyon to battle Photon."

Marth's widened in fear as he saw his dragon down and battered from battling the other Galaxy Eyes. It didn't have the strength to stop Tachyon's incoming breath attack. Fuko, however, remained calm and focused her energy. A white light flared around her. Three green rings and four white stars suddenly appeared in front of Photon, as if trying to shield him from harm.

"Spread those wonderous and beautiful wings and strike down your enemies at the speed of light!" Fuko chanted. A pillar of light shot from below and traveled through the rings, consuming the stars, right as Tachyon unleashed its breath attack. "Appear now. Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!"

The attack hit the pillar, creating an explosion that shook the whole space station. A cloud of smoke enveloped the area around the dragons. When the smoke finally cleared, a third dragon could be seen hovering just in front of Photon. It was a white and black bipedal dragon with green crystalline wings and a long-striped tail.

"No way," Marth said in awe.

"Incredible," Silica added as the others were left speechless. Even Lucius had no words.

Tachyon, however, was less than impressed. _I thought I said that I wouldn't tolerate_ any _interference!_ He said venomously. _You just signed for the destruction of your comrades, Clear Wing._

The white dragon simply shook her head. _No, I simply couldn't tolerate such an unfair battle between dragons,_ she answered serenely. _If you want Photon, you'll have to go through me first._

The mechanical dragon snorted in response. _Very well. You will be an appetizer before the real fight._

The two dragons roared at each other, shaking the air itself before charging at each other to do battle. Meanwhile Lucius turned towards Clear Wing's master and pointed his sword at her.

"It appears we may have to fight as well if you continue to get in my way," the older demon said rather calmly. "However, even someone of your strength is no match for me. You will only delay the inevitable."

Unfortunately Fuko had to agree with him. She knew that Lucius was far stronger than any Burst Linker in Brain Burst. All she can really do is buy enough time for Marth to recover enough for them all to escape this losing battle. Clear Wing's appearance may have also bought time for Photon to recover as well, but Tachyon's strength was still superior. This will not be easy. She braced herself for the coming fight.

"She may be no match for you, but I am!" a familiar voice shouted.

Lucius quickly turned and just barely raised his shield in time to block a barrage of different spells, ranging from fire and lightning lances to orbs of water and shadow. A familiar figure emerged from the shadows. Fuko immediately relaxed as she saw woman's crimson red hair and fierce green eyes.

"Rias!" she cried out in relief.

This was the break they needed. Who better to fight off a demon lord than with another demon lord?

"I had a feeling you all were in danger so I came as fast as I could," the demoness explained, maintaining her gaze on the other demon lord. "And I didn't come alone."

For once during the entire encounter, Lucius's eyes widened in fear. Such fears were answered when a black and purple figure rushed through the air and fired a barrage of red spears, killing most of the Enemies instantly before finishing off the remaining ones with two crimson spears in her hands. The figure came to a halt right before Kirito. She had long purple hair and piercing red eyes. She wore a black and purple skintight suit, black gloves and heeled boots, small silver shoulderpads, and appeared to be around thirty years old but she had a presence of someone much older, and of someone not to be crossed.

Stunned by her form and beauty, he stumbled out, "Wh-who are you?" As he said those words, he felt some sense of familiarity towards the woman.

The woman cracked a slight smirk, not once lowering her guard in case the Enemies respawned. "I am a friend of Rias's," she answered calmly. "You may call me Scathach."

"Scathach?!" That name certainly sounded familiar. That was the name of the Gatekeeper of Eternus, and the foster mother of Zane and the first Kirito. So she's still alive after all. But what was doing here on Earth?

Everything became still within the hanger. Even Tachyon and Clear Wing halted their battle and watched the tense exchange going on.

"So, Arcanos was right," Lucius said finally. "You have come to Earth."

"Correct," she answered while brandishing her spear, Gae Bolg. "I will not allow another tragedy like the Demon War to happen again. Whatever you and Arcanos are planning, I will stop it."

Rias also took a fighting stance and already had several magic projectiles ready to fire. "So then, Lucius," she said coldly. "You have a choice to make. You can either fight the two of us and perish, or you can take your dragon and retreat. What will it be?"

"Personally, I hope you choose to fight," Scathach added. "I don't get many opportunities to kill a dragon."

Lucius could only groan as he found himself backed in a metaphorical corner. If it was just one of either woman, he at least had a chance of winning, but he knew better than to press his luck by fighting them both at once. Not even Tachyon at his current level could turn the tide since Scathach is famous for slaying large and powerful beasts.

With great reluctance, he dismissed his weapons and called his dragon back, much to the beast's disappointment. A teleportation circle then appeared under his feet. "You got lucky this time, Marth," he said slowly. "But don't think either of your mothers can protect you forever. We _will_ finish our battle. You better keep up with your training if you hope to win against me." And with that, the male demon lord teleported away, returning to the real world.

* * *

Frank, Kazuto, Kuroba, Fuko, C.C., and Meg were heading back to the Hagino apartment alongside the demoness as soon as she had gotten off of work. The trip was relatively silent until they stood outside the apartment.

"Is she inside?" Frank asked his mother.

Rias gave a slight nod. "Yes. I told her to wait here for us. I believe we have much catching up to do with her."

The half demon nodded in acknowledgement before the demoness unlocked the door and they all went inside. Scathach was waiting for them in the living room, dressed in casual street clothes. She turned towards the group and gave a light smile.

"You guys sure took your time getting here," the Queen of Shadows spoke up. "It's good to see you all again."

"Uh, likewise," Meg replied nervously. Scathach chuckled at that.

"Relax, Meg, I'm not going to skewer you or anything. I would never hurt my surrogate daughter after all."

That briefly confused the girl until she remembered that the woman in front of her had raised her brother in their previous life during the War of Light and Shadow.

"I see," she said, gaining a bit more confidence. "Well it's nice to see you're still around."

"Thank you." Scathach then did something unexpected and approached the two young demons before pulling them into a hug. "I was a fool to let you both go so long ago. I will not make that mistake again. This time…I will protect you both. I swear it."

"Wait, do you know what happened to Zane and Lucia?" C.C. asked in confusion.

The Witch of Dun Scaith could only shake her head. "No, but I have heard rumors over my long years," she answered solemnly. "One particular rumor is very grim and its that they, along with several of the Paladins of Umbris, perished in a terrible battle after the war was over. However, we don't know how credible the rumor is though."

That made Frank and Kuroba pause. A terrible battle. They had both experienced flashes of one such battle earlier today. Could those memories be true? It was hard to say for sure. They would both have to wait for any other memories to return to help give those scenes some much-needed context.

Scathach later explained that she's got a mole established within Arcanos's forces and filled the teens in on what she had told Rias, minus the dragon cards and that Zarc was still alive. She wanted to save that detail for a later day. She later declared that she would be staying here until further notice, to which suffered no opposition because of how powerful an ally she was.

Seeing that the sun was setting, Rias and Meg began preparing for dinner, with Kuroba and Fuko deciding to spend the night once again. Kuroba was sitting at the kitchen table her friend, eyeing her boyfriend and second partner converse with the immortal spearwoman, likely swapping stories on fighting.

"Hey Kuroba," Fuko spoke up, causing the Black King to turn her attention to her. "I finally figured it out. I've learned the secret of Gale Thruster."

Kuroba's eyes widened in disbelief. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes. After the battle, Kirito told me a theory he had after seeing me use my Armament again. He thinks that they're meant to be used to fly through space, not in the sky."

"So your avatar is space oriented?! Incredible."

Fuko couldn't help but smile at that. "Seems that way. I think I know why that is too," she continued. "When I was in elementary school, I once read this book in the school library about children genetically engineered with arms instead of legs to survive in a weightless environment. While I did struggle with the advanced reading, I still felt a kinship with the characters because of my…condition. However, once I was halfway through with it, the librarian took it out of my hands and removed it from the library. I tried begging my parents to get me a copy of it but there was no digital copy of it and the hard copies were too expensive. I was heartbroken by that and eventually forgot about it."

"I see," Kuroba said with interest. "That explains your avatar's abilities. It wasn't the sky you were reaching for, but space itself. The desire to go to a weightless world."

"Exactly," Fuko replied. "I owe Clear Wing my thanks for reminding me of that. Now I can use my wings without regrets."

The Black King cracked a light smile. It was good to hear that her friend has finally moved on from that incident nearly three years ago. "By the way, thanks for saving Frank back there. There's no way I could have come to his aid in time because of all those monsters."

"No problem. I care about him too. Plus I learned something interesting as well." Fuko then told her King what her dragon had shown her within the hanger.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Meg and Rias were joined by a certain digital idol.

"Not to be rude, but is there a reason why you're hanging around us, Yuna?" Meg questioned.

"You guys were the ones who woke me up, so I feel its right to repay you by sticking around," the idol explained. "Plus, I think I've proven how useful I can be for you all."

Rias chuckled at that. "She does make a point. Plus since she's a virtual being, we don't have to worry about her taking up space or anything. There's no harm in her staying with us."

Meg couldn't really counter that. She didn't even hate Yuna anyway. However she was curious as to how the AI even got to this era. Supposedly Yuna just found herself within Brain Burst one day with no explanation. There was something…unsettling with that.

 _"We're not supposed to be in this era either,"_ she thought to herself. _"Is time starting to become unstable because of our presence. We may need to start looking into how we can return to our era before the damage becomes irreparable. Then there's the possibility that Yuna wasn't the only one who got dragged here. I've got a bad feeling about this."_

She wasn't alone in this sentiment as C.C. simply watched the group go about their business from the hallway, acting as a simple observer. "That was way too close for comfort," she said to seemingly no one. "You're the ones who notified Rias about Lucius's attack weren't you? …What? You're going to fill me in on what's happening in the Accelerated World?"

What C.C. was told would horrify even her for the rest of the night. She would have to wait for the right time before she felt it was necessary to fill Marth and the others in on what she just learned. As soon as her conversation with the mysterious being was over, she heard her name being called and moved to the kitchen table for dinner. The others noticed that she looked uneasy, but as usual, she didn't tell them anything.

She could only hope that Marth and the others could become strong enough to stop what was coming.

* * *

**Somewhere in Eternus**

**Somewhere in Eternus**

Rufus Shinra was making his way to the lower levels of the Cayenne's castle, home to Croire de Cayenne, one of the several ruling lords of the shadowy lands. Rufus is a noble himself but he tended to act as Cayenne's chief of staff and tactician. He had just received a report from the lab that they were finally successful in their goal. He was heading there to see the results for himself.

It didn't take long to reach his destination. The stone room was well-lit as well as structurally sound to protect all the machines and lab equipment inside. Technology within Eternus has advanced quite smoothly over the several millennia. Cayenne wouldn't get here for another hour or so. Being a lord to an entire territory wasn't easy after all.

"Lord Rufus," one of the scientists called out in surprise. "We weren't expecting you until later tonight."

The noble brushed his long blonde hair aside before folding his arms. "I managed to make some time in my schedule for this," he answered back. "This is a big day after all. Is _she_ ready?"

Another scientist nodded his head in confirmation. "Just about. Creating a homunculus from demon blood isn't easy, and that's even harder when we use blood from the Umbris family. Do you wish to see her?"

"Of course. Bring me to her at once."

The scientists led him through the medium-sized lab, passing by several human-sized empty tube that contained traces of an unknown green liquid. Soon they reached the end of the room where there was a single tube with a young girl floating inside. She was curled up and completely bare, not to mention hooked up with several cords to monitor her vitals. Her long white and black hair simply swirled in the green liquid as she rested peacefully. At the bottom of the tube had a name. Altina Umbris.

Rufus simply smiled at the sight. "Excellent. With this, we're one step closer to ruling all of Eternus. Lord Cayenne will be pleased with this."

Unbeknownst to him, a small fox-like creature with white fur and long ears was hiding under a desk and monitoring them. It was sent here by orders from its master while they went to speak with a certain goddess, and provide a status update. It seems that the Mage of Flowers will have to rearrange his schedule after all. The sister of the Umbris children cannot remain in the hands of these people any longer.

**To be continued**

* * *

**And with that, the Hermes Chord arc is finally over. Now onto the Chrome Disaster Returns arc. I'm really looking forward to that arc as two certain characters will play a major role in it. Sorry this took so long. I've had to deal with writer's block, plus I was busy playing new video games, mainly the Trails of Cold Steel series (I'm already on the third game after spending the last two or so weeks beating the first two games). Anyway, I'll see you guys next time!**


	39. Eve Before Disaster

**May 30, 3057**

Morgan was sitting by the desk in her room. It was late, nearly midnight. Now that Arcanos had a general idea of where Zarc was located, it would only be a matter of time before he comes for her head. She is a twili (another name for demon-fairy), and one that has a precedent for abandoning her "allies". She still didn't understand what Arcanos and his council are plotting to do, but she didn't really care. This fight isn't really hers to begin with. She was forced to come here, practically dragged by both demon lords and forced to work to locate the False Demon King.

The twili sorceress found herself scoffing at the mere thought of that man. Every demon, even half-breeds like her, know that only members of the Umbris family can take the throne of Eternus. That family was created directly from the Shadow Goddess, Sinestra's blood, who she then used to create the remaining demon families, like the Morningstars and the Berlitzes. It is by Sinestra's decree that the Umbris family would govern the other demons as kings and queens, while the demon lords would serve as the Goddess's champions. The demon lords could come from anywhere, either from outcasts of society or even the royal family itself.

The demon lords were meant to defend the dark lands of Eternus, whether from invaders or from threats on the inside. However, as the War of Light and Shadow revealed, there never any true unity behind that cause as Zarc and Arcanos joined the God of Destruction's merciless campaign and murdered their king, Teranis, throwing all of Eternus in disarray as the rest of the demons struggled to choose a side. Many did choose to join the usurpers, Lucius included, while others rallied behind Altena, Teranis's only child.

Morgan herself was rather new to the demon lord position as she had only joined their ranks a few months before the insurrection. She had been banished from a kingdom she saw as her home by someone she had loved as a sister, someone who had seen past her cursed heritage. Naturally there were other factors that caused it but it didn't quell the anger Morgan felt from being betrayed like that. Because of this, she cast her lot with Zarc to get her revenge and secure a future for herself.

After years of preparation, she was ready to spring her trap on her "sister" and claim her vengeance, but then _he_ showed up. Right when her sister was in the jaws of defeat, Zane and his Paladins of Umbris managed to show up and turn the tables on the demon lord. Her puppet was slain before they could fulfill their duty and her sister managed to survive that terrible battle. Zane battled Morgan by himself and she was barely able to survive. He was strangely more powerful than the average demon. While he was an Umbris, it didn't really explain why the gap between their powers was so narrow.

Even after all this time, Morgan can still vividly remember kneeling on those plains, battered and broken. With her plans for revenge in ruins, she begged the Twilight Swordsman to kill her, but he refused.

 _"I have no reason to kill you,"_ he had said to her as he held the Lunaris at her neck. _"You may believe that you were betrayed, but is that the truth? If I take your life, how will you know if you made the right choices?"_

Those words always confused Morgan. Did Zane know something she didn't? It was possible given that he was friends with her sister. However, she never got a chance to speak with her surrogate sibling that day as used the last of her strength to teleport to a hidden cove, far from the front lines, to recover. Zane's words caused her to lose whatever resolve she had left and simply chose to seal herself away. She remained blissfully unaware of the war around her during that time, but there was a brief nightmare she had of her former friend fighting in a chaotic battle on some highlands. However, this time her friend wasn't able to survive. She breathed her last on that blood-soaked lands, surrounded by her remaining knights.

Strangely, Morgan didn't find any satisfaction from that dream. Either because she didn't know if it really happened or she had simply lost her desire for revenge. Whatever the case, she now needed to focus on the present. As soon as the "Order of Nightfall" as Arcanos as dubbed his united forces, secure Zarc's body from the Accelerated World, Morgan's life will come to an end. Luckily she had managed to procure a trump card of her own. With it, she'll be able to make sure no one comes after her again.

She turned towards the closed door and listened intently for any noises on the other side. This military base was constructed by humans a hundred or so years ago, only to be abandoned for reasons Morgan didn't care about. This was the place Zarc used to stage his attacks on Tokyo during the Demon War, and as such, Arcanos has chosen it for whatever his plans were. He had even expanded it by adding floors underground. Morgan's room was four floors below the surface, the same floor where the male demon lord kept monsters and even a vault were precious artifacts are kept.

According to Blados, there wasn't really much in the vault besides Zarc's old sword, fragments of the Shadow Crystal, and a few things that weren't mentioning. Patrols were rather frequent on this floor, largely because of Morgan herself and the wards preventing teleportation were especially powerful. Normally she would just weaken the wards and warp out, but Arcanos was starting to catch on to her little escapades, not to mention it was exhausting to do, so that option was out. She wanted to make sure Arcanos wouldn't find out about her prison break until she has revived her new puppet.

Being the master sorceress she is, Morgan has quite a few tricks up her sleeve to do her breakout attempt. She dismissed her grimoire and pocketed the pouch containing the last shard of Chrome Disaster before marching to the door. As expected, she heard the next patrol unit obliviously stroll down the hall. Once she deemed the unit to be at a safe distance, she exited the room and quickly muttered the incantation for an invisibility spell, removing herself from sight.

How good the enchantment is dependent on the skill of its user. This applies to its duration, how well it covers and its detection risk. If an amateur tried this, they would most likely hold it for a few minutes and be easily detected by a decent observer. For someone like Morgan though, she can keep the spell going for hours and can elude even the most skilled watchmen. There only a handful of people that could detect her and unfortunately for her, two of them are in this building. She'll have to proceed with extreme caution.

Steeling her nerves, she marched down the hall that led to the higher floors. She was somewhat tempted to sneak into the vault to see what secrets Arcanos was keeping, but she dismissed it quickly. The vault is one of the most secure rooms in the base. It was tricky enough to sneak Blados inside. She couldn't risk being detected so soon.

The halls were rather quiet, but Morgan refused to relax. Not even her own footsteps made any sounds, though that was because of the invisibility spell. She managed to reach the stairs without any issue, however before she could ascend them, she heard a terrifying scream.

"Aaaahhh!"

It was a woman's scream, and she sounded like she was in pain. Under other circumstances, Morgan would have just shrugged it off and continued onward, but this wasn't the first time she had heard that scream. She would occasionally hear it at least once a day for the past few weeks. When she asked Arcanos about it, he refused to answer her. Lucius didn't know himself but never made a move to investigate. Blados, however, did give the twili some information, albeit barely. Apparently the Order of Nightfall managed to recover something valuable during a reconnaissance mission in Eternus about two days after Seiji was defeated by Kirito. Blados himself doesn't know what the item was, but he did mention that Arcanos was very happy about it. The demon lord has since been spending the last few weeks trying to break it in, whatever that meant.

"Gaaaahhh!"

There was something unnerving about those screams. It almost made Morgan feel sorry for her. She could only imagine whatever torment Arcanos was forcing upon her. Since this was going to be her last night here, she chose to investigate the screams just to see what was going on. She tracked the noise from a nearby room. The door was just barely open and there was a bright light inside.

"Incredible." That was Sugou, a pervert of a man that tried forcing himself on Morgan a few times, but she always made sure he knew his place. Only she decided which men can touch her. "Even after all this time, she's nowhere close to breaking. She really is something."

An amused chuckle could be heard on the other side of the door. It was Arcanos. "I told you she was special. There are only a handful of beings with such an iron will. Even I must applaud her for withstanding such extreme torture without so much as cracking."

 _"What is he talking about?"_ Morgan wondered. Carefully, she opened the door slightly to get a better look inside.

The room was rather small with a handful of machines and ancient runes. Arcanos and Sugou were in the center, with the latter messing with a keyboard and monitor (which was most likely infused with magic), while the former simply stood beside him. Their backs were turned from the door so there wasn't much risk of detection, but she still needed to be careful. At the end of the room was a strange green crystal that hovered a few feet above a red rune. Something about the crystal seemed familiar but the twili couldn't remember why. However, the strangest part about the crystal is that if she looked closely enough, she could just barely see the vague outline of a woman with her arms and legs chained. The woman seemed to be slouching, likely exhausted from the extreme treatment she was forced through.

_"Strange. I can't tell what that person looks like. I can't even tell if they're human or not. Just what is Arcanos planning?"_

"This can all end, you know," Arcanos said cynically. "All you have to do is join us."

Even though it was just a vague outline, Morgan could tell the woman was glaring at the male demon lord. Whoever she was, she sure had a fire in her.

"Never," the woman said, her words filled with venom and anger. " _He_ couldn't break me then, and you will not break me now. I will never help you with your mad schemes."

Arcanos sighed in exasperation before smirking sinisterly. "A shame," he said nonchalantly. "I guess you can make for some mild entertainment then. Sugou, raise it to level 10."

Now Sugou was sneering in anticipation. "With pleasure, my lord." He raised the bar on his control console, causing the rune to light up. The woman cried out in pain as she struggled against her translucent bonds, all while Arcanos and Sugou cackled in amusement.

It was honestly disgusting to see such behavior, especially from a demon lord. Morgan may have had her issues, but she never harmed someone so defenseless for her own pleasure. Unfortunately, she couldn't even attempt to do a rescue, as strange as the thought was when it popped in her mind. While she was more than a match for Sugou, Arcanos was the real threat. Not only is he a demon lord but he can easily call for reinforcements and overwhelm the sorceress.

 _"My condolences, whoever you are,"_ Morgan thought mournfully. _"But I must prioritize my own survival. I need to find my place in this world, where I really belong."_

She sneakily walked away, making every step count. By the time Arcanos looked over his shoulder to glimpse at the hall, Morgan was already gone.

 _"Strange,"_ he mused to himself. _"Could've sworn I felt someone watching us. It better not be than damn Lucius or Lelouch. I won't let anyone know how valuable this prize is."_

* * *

Lelouch Lamperouge was sitting just outside the Nighfallen base, admiring the night sky. It has been a long week for him, especially since the Order had raised the security level as soon as Scathach revealed herself to Lucius. Such a thing was natural given that the Witch of Dun Scaith is one of the most feared women in all of Eternus. Even Arcanos knew better than to fight her unprepared.

Unfortunately, despite being part of the Order for five months, he has still been unable to deduce Arcanos's plans. Locating Zarc was only a part of it, while everything else was unknown to the half-demon. It was clear that the demon lord was prepping for war, but there had to be more to it. Why else would Arcanos bring back the Earthbound Immortals if he wasn't plotting something bigger?

He looked to the south, where he could faintly see the lights of Tokyo at the horizon. What he wouldn't give to go visit his old friends like Zane and Kirito again? Then there was _her_. The girl that won his affection during the War of Light and Shadow. Lucia Umbris.

It has been over seven millennia since he last seen her. Despite losing her father and one kingdom at a young age, as well as getting separated from her brother, Lucia managed to endure the hardships of that terrible war. Lelouch, on the other hand, was barely able to survive the Purge of Obsidia, but his sister and mother weren't so lucky. His father, Charles vi Britannia, was known for having many wives during his long life, leading to many children as his potential heirs. The Britannia family was a high-ranking noble family within Eternus and had a close relationship with the royal family. Charles's betrayal to Teranis simply added more fuel to the fires of hatred Lelouch had for his father.

The man didn't even bother protecting his human wife, Marianne, the mother of both Lelouch and Nunnally, much less the half-demon children themselves. A few of his own siblings even participated in the massacre. It was because of that tragedy that he refused to use his father's last name, instead opting for his mother's maiden name "Lamperouge".

 _"I guess it wasn't so bad though,"_ Lelouch admitted. _"If it wasn't for that, I probably never would have met Lucia. Plus I did manage to get revenge on my terrible excuse of a father."_

He still didn't understand what happened to Lucia after she and several of the Paladins of Umbris disappeared one day to look for Zane. Lelouch would have joined the search as well but Eternus was in shambles after the war and needed strong people to put it back together. They needed their prince, the firstborn of Altena, to take the throne. But the war hero simply vanished from his quarters one night with not even a note of where he could have went. However, Lelouch has his suspicions on why Zane disappeared. Even now, there is still a power struggle happening in Eternus, with a few nobles trying to seize power for themselves, ignoring the will of the Goddess. There are also those who hate the Twilight Swordsman for abandoning them when they needed him the most.

Both Zane…no, Marth, and Lucia need to return to Eternus soon and put a stop to the conflict, otherwise the land of shadows will destroy itself from within. If Arcanos really is plotting a war, then the Umbris siblings need as many allies as they can get. But can the two of them unite those who despise them?

 _"I'm sure they can,"_ Lelouch said to himself. _"They'll have the support of both Rias and Scathach. Those two can easily keep the nobles in line. Plus, my powers can offer some_ persuasion. _"_

Despite these words of comfort, the half-demon knew that it would be a very up-hill battle for Marth and Lucia to restore the respect and authority the Umbris family once had. Of course they wouldn't have this issue if Altena was still alive. She was the strongest demoness to ever live. She was respected and loved by everyone. No noble would dare try to seize power if she were on the throne. Sadly, Altena met her end by Zarc, the man who murdered her father and became the False King. Her body was buried by a lake near the Tailtein Plains. It would become a tradition for demons to visit her grave and pay their respects.

Strangely enough, there are rumors that Altena didn't actually die and instead retreated somewhere to recuperate, but Lelouch dismissed that as hopeful wishing. He had seen the body after that terrible battle. There's no way even she could survive such terrible injuries. Demon lords may be powerful, but they are not invincible.

"My, my," a new voice spoke up. "I didn't expect to see you here."

Lelouch immediately tensed up and stood at alert, only to see that he was alone. Hold on, no he wasn't. A familiar blonde twili suddenly revealed herself before the half-demon, with her having a faint smirk on her face.

"Morgan," he said cautiously. "I take it you're finally leaving the Order?"

"You catch on quick," she replied with a nod. "Now that Zarc has been located within the Accelerated World, my usefulness has come to an end. There's no doubt I will be executed the moment his body is recovered."

"I wouldn't put it past Arcanos," he agreed. "You'd think he would try to recruit you since you're a demon lord like him. It's rare for even pureblood demons to have enough aptitude to become demon lords. Since Rias and Scathach are on the enemy side, you'd figure Arcanos would want as many powerful allies he can get."

"True, but how many of them have stabbed him in the back by deserting? It's just not safe for me to stay here anymore."

Lelouch couldn't help but agree with the sorceress. While they were on opposite sides during the War of Light and Shadow, he could tell that she didn't have the same ideals like his father or Zarc. He was even present when Zane chose to spare her life, although he did call the prince crazy for doing that.

"Why did you reveal yourself before me?" he questioned. "You could have slipped by me without making even a whisper. How do you know I won't signal the base that you have escaped?"

Morgan simply smirked at that. "Simple. Because you actually a mole for the Witch of Dun Scaith." She then laughed at the half-demon's surprise. "Don't be so shocked. Why else would you be here other than to spy on Arcanos, someone you fought against during the last war?"

Lelouch found himself panicking. After a few moments, he managed to regain a cool composure. "How do you know I haven't had a change of heart? Maybe I decided to fight against my former comrades and wipe out the humans."

The sorceress rolled her eyes at that. "And risk fighting the girl you love?" she refuted. "What was her name? Lucia, or does she go by another name now?" She then shrugged and folded her arms. "No matter. I may not know you personally, but I do know that you would never betray her, no matter what happened. Bonds like that aren't easily severed after all."

Lelouch narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Morgan was known for lying and deception. She would even topple an entire kingdom to get her revenge on one individual.

"Oh really?" he questioned with a smug expression. "I seem to recall that you were betrayed by one you considered family. I believe their name was Ar—"

He knew he made a mistake when Morgan suddenly unleashed a fierce gale, knocking him off his feet and landing flat on his butt before finding a spear of lightning poking at his neck. The hairs at the back of his neck were standing up from the static electricity in the air. He found himself looking up at the sorceress, his blood running cold from the icy stare she had in her eyes.

"Care to finish that sentence?" she said in a scarily calm voice. "We're not enemies, but we're not allies either. I'd be careful with what you say if I were you."

Lelouch could only curse himself at his stupidity. He should have known better than to even try to mention _her_ name to Morgan. There's no way he can take her own in a head on fight by himself. Even his powers wouldn't help because demon lords were among the few that were _immune_ to it.

Hesitantly, he raised his hands in defeat. "My mistake," he said slowly. "I spoke out of turn."

A tense few seconds passed by before Morgan let out a deep breath and canceled her spell. "I'll forgive you this once," she passed off. She then turned around and began to walk off.

"Hey, wait!" Lelouch called out in a hurry. "What are you planning to do now? Where will you go?"

Morgan halted in her tracks, but kept her back to the half-demon. "Like I said, we are not allies. As such, I have no obligation to tell you of my plans," she replied. "However, I will tell you one thing. Maintain your guard if you choose to stay here. I may have caught on to your true intentions, but that doesn't mean the others haven't as well." She tossed him a glance over his shoulder. "Your time as a spy is coming to an end quickly. Use your remaining time wisely."

Surprisingly, Lelouch found himself smirking at that. He figured his cover would only last so long. Plus he has noticed the guards have become more on edge whenever he walked by. Luckily, he has already prepared a few escape plans for such an occasion. "I never expected such wise words from a witch," he said flamboyantly. "It seems there is still some kindness left within you, Morgan le Fay."

The sorceress smirked at hearing her chosen name. Her father was a member of the Berlitz family and she was given the name "Morgana Berlitz". However, because of her fairy heritage on her mother's side, she was forbidden from inheriting her father's position and banished from her family's territory. She would end up in the care of a wandering mage who taught her how to use magic, which she had a natural gift for. She then found herself within a certain human kingdom and ended up befriending its future ruler. That friend even helped her come up with her chosen name. Those were probably some of her happier memories before it was all taken away from her.

"Think whatever you want, Lelouch Lamperouge," she replied. "Farewell."

Black translucent wings suddenly emerged from her back. She then kicked off of the ground and flew off into the night. Lelouch was half-tempted to pursue her just to see what she was planning. However, he ultimately decided against it. Whatever it was, if it was a threat to his friends, Marth and the others could handle it. Who knows, maybe this could be just the thing that can awaken Lucia and allow her to find her true self.

* * *

 _"Why did I bother talking with him?"_ Morgan wondered as she flew under the clear night sky. _"Maybe I've grown soft because of my long slumber."_ She then found her thoughts turning towards certain male half-demon. _"I wonder how he'd react if he saw me. I doubt he would even remember me though."_

She found her thoughts towards the Dark Swordsman becoming more frequent as she continued her observation on him. She even witnessed his recent battle against Lucius, though it was hard hiding her presence from both him and Scathach. She never would have thought that Marth and his friends have managed to get their hands on cards containing the spirits of reincarnated divine beasts. She had heard that her fellow demon lord had gotten his a few years ago after Arcanos awakened him from his slumber. The twili sorceress wouldn't be surprised if a certain mage had his hand in delivering the cards to the Black Legion.

Once she was a good distance away from the Nightfallen base. She landed gracefully on the ground, her wings disappearing the moment her feet touched the ground. She then readied a magic circle and brought out the last fragment of Chrome Disaster.

"Now then," she said confidently. "Time for your big return."

* * *

Meg didn't know where she was. She was on a strange highland with glowing blue grass everywhere. It would look beautiful if the land wasn't soaked in blood. The sky was covered in dark clouds with purple lightning dancing in the air. The entire area was in complete chaos. There were countless dark beings swarming the highlands. Some looked humanoid and wielded shadowy weapons while others had strange spear-like limbs, dark skin, and an unnerving sideways smile with no eyes or nose. Something about the latter freaked her out to no end. There were a few people on the battlefield that looked more human, thankfully.

The first was a young man with black and white hair and blue eyes. He wore a black and white tunic with blue accents, black pants, thigh-high armored boots, and a short white cape with a black edge. His left arm had a gauntlet and wore a set of faults around his waist. A white scabbard hung by his left side. He wielded a white longsword with a blue hilt in his right, black-gloved hand.

Fighting beside him was what seemed to be a girl with their long pink hair braided behind their back. They wore a long-sleeved black tunic, a white cape that was red on the inside, silver gauntlets with gold accents, a gold and red skirt, black socks that went up to their thighs, and finally white leather boots. They also had a scabbard strapped to their left side of their waist. For some reason, Meg got a feeling that person wasn't actually a girl.

They both looked to be overwhelmed as they tried to fight the strange creatures. They were badly injured, their clothes torn and wounds bleeding. The first figure gritted his teeth before raising his sword up.

"Joyeuse," a dozen swords materialized behind him, the ones on the right were white while the left were black, "Ordre!" He swung his sword forward, prompting the other swords to fire beams of multicolored light at the incoming monsters. An explosion of light soon followed, the air rumbling from the shock. Most of the monsters that were caught in it were killed, but some managed to survive. Not to mention that more were still coming.

"Are you kidding me?!" the second swordsman exclaimed in frustration. "Don't these guys know when to give up?!"

A barrage of light arrows descended upon the incoming horde, wiping a good portion out. A woman with long golden-brown unkempt hair with green bangs and green eyes hurried over to the duo. She wore a green and black dress, black gloves, and thigh length black boots. She had black bow with gold accents in one hand, meaning she was an archer. What was strange about her was that she had cat-like ears on her head and a tail.

"Nice shot Atalante," the first man said.

"Thanks, but I was hoping to take down more of them," she said dismissingly. "These things are tough."

"No kidding," the second person replied. "I don't think even Artoria and her knights can handle this horde."

Artoria? Who was that, and why did it remind her of the Arthurian legends? The sounds of battle continued, prompting Meg to continue examining the battlefield. She soon saw a woman dressed in an armored blue battledress. Her blonde hair was tied in a bun and her green eyes were focused on the battle. She wielded a white longsword that had a golden hilt with blue accents. Her armor was in tatters and her wounds looked deep. A golden light seemed to be attempting to close those wounds but they just kept getting reopened whenever she attacked or got hit.

She had three armored figures fighting beside her. One was a man with blonde hair and silver armor while wielding a silver greatsword. The second was a man with long purple hair and armor and wielded a purple longsword. Finally, the third man had pale white spiky hair and black armor as well as a black cross-shaped shield. They all seemed exhausted and were all covered in injuries.

"So many of them," the woman said grimly as they took a brief respite.

"My king, you must flee while you still can," the blonde man spoke up hastily. His face was all bloody. "The three of us will cover your retreat. Our people need you. You must survive."

"Absolutely not!" she exclaimed. "I will not abandon my remaining knights to save myself. We're here to save one of my dear friends and we will return to Camelot together!"

The knights looked hesitant, but they clearly knew that they couldn't talk her out of it, so they all nodded their heads in agreement, vowing to protect her with their lives. It was strange to hear a woman being called "king", but Meg pushed that little detail.

Next she saw two women battling back to back against the never-ending horde. The first had platinum blonde hair and amber eyes. She was wearing a pearl-white thin battledress with gold accents, white gloves that went up to her shoulders, and heeled gold boots. She was wielding two razor-sharp dual swords that were the same color as her armor. The second woman with long brown hair and aqua blue eyes. She was wearing sky blue armor, including a short chain-metal skirt, as well as metal gauntlets of the same color. Like the others, they too were slowly being overwhelmed by the relentless monsters and were badly wounded, with shining blood covering their armor and wetting the ground. Despite the huge disadvantage, they kept on fighting. It was admirable really.

Meg then finally looked herself over and saw that she was wearing an outfit that she doesn't recognize. Her attire consisted of a green and black battledress with red highlights, green fingerless gloves and heeled boots. In her right hand was a rapier with a blue and white blade and a gold handle with a knuckleguard, its scabbard attached to her waist. The blade seemed to be radiating stardust.

"What's going on here?" she wondered aloud.

She suddenly heard a snarl followed immediately by footsteps. Something was rushing at her. With inhuman speed, a speed that was greater than any of her avatars, she narrowly avoided being impaled in the chest by a spear-like arm from one of the creatures. Not losing her momentum, she hopped sideways a few times before unleashing a flurry of rapid thrusts before the monster could even react. The tip of her rapier easily pierced through the hard skin and killed it instantly. The unknown creature let out one final, weak screech before falling limply to the ground and dissolved into stardust.

"Raaaaa!"

Meg let out a gasp. She recognized that voice. It couldn't be. Was he here too? She looked around in a blind panic before finally spotting her target fighting someone on a hill. He wore a black overcoat with twin tails, as well as red and gold trimming, red gloves, and black pants and boots. He was wielding a black and gold longsword with a wing-shaped pommel pointed towards the hilt. His shoulder-length black hair clung to his face from both sweat and blood.

She couldn't quite make out what his opponent looked like, but them did feel familiar, like she had met them before. Both fighters were badly injured, their clothing in tatters. They clashed their swords fiercely, the sounds echoing in the air. Suddenly during one sword-lock, the first fighter became surrounded in a dark aura and his hair became an unnatural white. His strength seemed to have increased as well as he was able to repel the other sword seemed to have gained the upper hand, but his opponent refused to yield any ground and continued their assault.

They both seemed to have abandoned any sense of defense and were focused solely on killing the other. It was a pure battle for survival. In the end, the battle reached its climax where they each readied their final blows. The first swordsman performed an overhead swing, aiming right for the upper chest, while the second lunged his sword right towards the heart. Meg found herself dropping her rapier in shock at what she witnessed next, something she never wanted to see in her entire life.

"NOOOOO!"

* * *

Meg woke up with a start and found herself in her bedroom. Her breathing was ragged and she was covered in sweat. She quickly looked around and saw that she was safe. It was still nighttime out, likely around two o'clock.

"Are you okay?"

She turned her head and saw Yuna looking at her, concerned. She must have forgotten to take off her Neurolinker before going to sleep again. Similar to C.C. choosing to hang around her brother, Yuna has decided to tag with her. But unlike C.C., who had a physical body, Yuna was simply a digital being, so she wasn't an inconvenience to the female demon.

"Y-yeah," Meg said hesitantly, trying to calm herself down. "Just a bad dream."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Meg was reluctant to answer. The AI idol could tell that whatever it was about clearly bothered her. She couldn't stand seeing her friend in such a depressed state.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Yuna said cheerfully with a forced smile. "Whatever that little nightmare was, it wasn't real. If anything bad did happen, you've got a big brother and two of the strongest women in Eternus here to protect you."

The half-demon found herself chuckling at that. "Thanks, Yuna. I needed that. I think I'll try going back to sleep now."

"Okay! I'll see you in the morning." Yuna then dissolved into data as she entered a sleep mode before Meg removed her Neurolinker.

What she had witnessed from her dream was outright terrifying. She had never seen a battle like that ever in her life, even during the Demon War thirty years ago. The thing that terrified her the most though, was seeing those two fighters looking ready to kill each other and the first fighter's strange transformation. For some reason, she found herself worrying over her beloved brother again.

 _"Why do I have a feeling that something bad is about to happen to him?"_ Meg thought to herself. She then shook her head. _"No. I can't think that way. I lost my birth parents. I won't lose my brother as well. If anyone tries to take him from me, then I'll cut them down!"_ She gripped her covers tightly as a dark aura surrounded her. Her eyes became bloodred and her hair a pale white before they reverted back to brown when the aura faded.

* * *

A boy in black and a girl in green. The boy had black hair while the girl had pale white hair. Who were they, and why did Altina keep dreaming about them? Were they here parents? Not likely. They were too young for that. Then were they her siblings? Yes that seems more likely. Then where are they? What are their names? These were details that she found herself longing to know.

_Do you want to meet your brother and sister?_

A voice, male by the sound of it. She wasn't unfamiliar to hearing people talk outside her pod, but most of the time she struggled understanding them both because of the glass and the liquid inside. This voice, however, is much clearer than the others, almost like it was being projected into her mind. She pondered over the question for a few seconds before deciding to give her answer.

_"Yes. I want to meet them. Are they here?"_

_Unfortunately no. But I can take you to them. This place isn't safe for you, but I know one that is. If you so wish, I can get you out and bring you to your family._

What did he mean by safe? Were the people outside her pod bad people? If so, why was she with them? What were their plans for her? These questions and more surged through her mind.

_"Are you being truthful to me? How do I know you're not lying and want to use me too?"_

_A fair question. While I am bit of a misfit every now and then… oh shut it Cath Palug! Anyway, I am being genuine about my offer. For your sake, I hope you accept it._

Altina had no reason to trust him, just like the other beings on the other side of the glass. However, she could feel a sense of honesty in his words, like he truly means what he says. She doesn't understand how she came to be in this world or what her brother and sister were like, but every time she thought of them, a strange pain came to her heart. Was this feeling…longing? Against her better judgement, she nodded her head.

_"Very well. I will accept your offer."_

_Excellent. Now brace yourself. I'm opening the pod._

A hissing sound could be heard before Altina found herself falling forward. Thankfully she felt like she landed on something soft. With some difficulty, she slowly opened her eyes, which were struggling to adjust to the bright lights in the room. She felt weak at first, but found herself regaining some strength, enough to at least sit up.

Apparently she had landed on a blanket of pink flowers, while the pod liquid was sprayed all across the floor. The wires that were attached to her were now just hanging within the pod, unattached to anything. Both her skin and hair were damp. She will likely need a shower to rinse herself off. A large shadow appeared over her, prompting her to crane her head to look.

A tall man with long, messy white hair that that fell to his waist, the tips multicolored, and purple eyes. He wore a white robe that had a hood and sleeves that draped down his arms, a black tunic underneath and pants, as well as black boots. By his ears seemed to be multicolored flowers. In his right hand was a black curved staff that had a sword strapped inside, the handle pointing to the ground. By his feet was a strange fox-like creature with white fur.

"Wh-who are you?" Altina said, her vocal chords feeling strange for finally being used.

The man simply smiled at her. "My name's Merlin, and I'm here to bust you out of here." Suddenly a black shirt, jacket, white undergarments, a black skirt and shoes, as well as white thigh-length socks materialized in front of him. They were all strangely her size. She looked up at him curiously. "It might be best if you get dressed. I may be a womanizer, but even I've got some morals."

**To be continued**

* * *

**What's this? I actually updated three days early?! In all seriousness, I just felt the motivation to write today and decided to take advantage of that. If I try forcing myself to write, I don't think the end product goes so well. That's part of why my updates are so inconsistent. Anyway, the plot thickens. Morgan is abandoning Arcanos and is plotting to revive Chrome Disaster. I'm sure that's gonna go well, especially since Disaster may or may not be really pissed at Marth for defeating it. Hope you guys are all safe and enjoyed the chapter. See you guys next time!**


	40. Return of Disaster

**May 31, 2057**

Altina didn't understand what was happening as she, Merlin and his familiar, Cath Palug, were rushing through many halls and corridors to reach the surface. Apparently despite being an expert sorcerer, Merlin couldn't teleport them out due to powerful wards that prevented any teleportation. They were lucky to have avoided any confrontations with the guards, but that likely won't last for very long as it was only a matter of time before they came across a patrol group. Although the girl did find it strange that none of the alarms have been raised despite her obvious breakout.

It didn't help that her body still felt pretty weak from being in that pod for so long, making running constantly more difficult than it should have been. Her lungs were screaming at her to take a break to just breathe, but she kept on moving. Merlin even looked impressed at seeing the girl's resilience.

"You'll regain your strength soon enough," he said encouragingly as they hurried down another corridor. "Just try to keep moving. We'll be outside soon."

"Okay."

The underground catacombs were built under Cayenne's castle after the War of Light and Shadow, likely to be used to create homunculi like Altina without alerting the other lords of his plans. They were intentionally designed to be confusing to navigate so as to trap any intruders who dare to sneak in and bust someone out. If the trio were on their own, they would likely get lost soon, but thankfully Merlin thought to bring in some assistance for this rescue mission.

The sounds of metal clashing could be heard further down. There were people fighting each other here. Having a feeling on who it was, the Mage of Flowers led the young girl down the hall, towards the battle. The group soon reached a small corridor where a lone man was fighting three armored soldiers at once.

The man had short blue hair and orange eyes. His outfit consisted of a regal white coat with gold trimming, a red and black tunic, a purple ascot, white gloves and pants, and black boots. Attached to his right wrist was a short golden blade that could be concealed under his sleeve.

He was practically running circles around the three soldiers, his lighter equipment improving his mobility despite the tight space, over their heavy armor. One soldier attempted to stab him in the shoulder with their spear, only for him to dodge to the side and cut off the tip from the handle with his blade. He then delivered a swift kick to their gut, sending them careening at the wall, knocking them out instantly.

"I should execute every single one of you for daring to violate the royal family with your wicked schemes and take advantage of their absence," the man declared venomously as he raised his blade in a threatening manner. "But that is not my objective here tonight. Give your thanks to Lady Sinestra that I will simply render you unconscious, traitors. That is, of course, if you've got the courage to fight a _true_ supporter of the Umbris family."

The remaining soldiers eyed the man nervously, their arms practically shaking. They had the advantage in numbers, but they were totally outclassed in terms of skill. Weighing their options carefully, they did the only logical thing they could do. They dropped their weapons and ran away in sheer terror, abandoning their unconscious comrade in the process. The man chose not to pursue, simply scoffing and calling them cowards, before noticing the observers.

"Lord Merlin," he said formally as he approached the mage, his blade retracting under his coat sleeve as he did so. "I take it things went successful on your end?"

"Indeed, they have. I see it was wise to recruit you for this mission. Your combat skills have not dulled at all over the many centuries."

The man smiled with pride at the complement. "As a loyal servant of Master Lelouch, I must always be prepared for when my service is required," he replied. "I eagerly await the day of his return, and of the return of our crown prince."

Merlin let out an amused chuckle. It wasn't surprising to see that he hasn't changed at all over the long years. It was actually quite reassuring. "And that day is soon upon us. But we should focus on the present for now." The mage tossed a glance over his shoulder, noticing that his companion has been strangely silent. "No need to be shy. This man is here to help us."

"Help us?" Altina, who had been hiding behind Merlin as a precaution, peeked her head out and stared at the stranger in curiosity.

Upon seeing the girl, the man's eyes lit up with joy and immediately fell to one knee while bringing his arm to his right breast. Was this some kind of salute? "It is an honor to finally meet you, young princess," he said with pride. "I am Jeremiah Gottwald. My young master was very loyal to your family during the War of Light and Shadow several millennia ago. As such, I too serve the Umbris family with the same dedication. Might I ask my lady's name?"

The girl was taken aback by the clear passion the man before her said. Loyalty seemed to mean a lot to him given his hostility towards the soldiers. However, he didn't seem like a bad guy. After a few seconds of thinking, she finally said, "Altina."

"Altina," he repeated softly, smiling as he said it. "A beautiful name. One befitting a princess, regardless of her birth. Upon my honor, I shall ensure you manage to escape the grasp of these traitors and reunite with your family."

Her family? He must be referring to the boy and girl that she saw in her dreams. Was it really possible for her to meet them? Her existence may be young, but that didn't mean she was stupid. Some of the scientists did implant her with basic knowledge the moment she was able to form conscious thoughts. She knew from the start that her birth was unnatural. That she isn't a demon like her siblings are. She is something fake, a false person created by the blood of real beings. A homunculus.

"Is it really okay for me to meet them?" Altina asked in concern, her hands clutched close to her chest. "Would they even accept me despite my origins?"

"Of course they'll accept you!" Jeremiah argued fervently, his tone surprising her. "It doesn't matter that you're a homunculus. The blood of the Umbris family flows through your veins. That means you _do_ have a family to go to. I swear it."

Altina wasn't too sure about that her gaze wandered aimlessly. She found it really hard to convince herself that Jeremiah is right and that her siblings will accept her. The only way to find out the truth is to go to them, wherever they are. If her brother and sister do accept her and take her in, that would make her happy beyond words. However, if they rejected her, then Altina wouldn't know how to react, but she wouldn't really blame them.

"Master Merlin."

Altina perked up when she saw a woman suddenly appear from the shadows, standing right next to Jeremiah. Her outfit was bizarre, a mix between that of a maid uniform and of an assassin. She had short brown hair and brown eyes. Her weapons of choice were a pair of kunai knives. Was she another ally?

"I have succeeded with destroying the remaining blood samples," the woman continued in a professional tone. "Now Lord Cayenne has no way of creating any more Umbris homunculi."

"Excellent work, Sayako," the Mage of Flowers replied. The sounds of soldiers shouting could be heard from the halls. "We'd best make our leave before we are overrun. Is our exit still secure?"

"Yes," Jeremiah spoke up as he rose to his feet. "Anya should still be there guarding it. There's no way any of the guards here can defeat her. I trained her myself after all. Dr. Lloyd also made sure to disable the enemy's communication and security features. We should have no problems with our escape."

"Perfect. Now let's move. Sayako, stay close to Altina and keep her safe. Jeremiah and I will take the front to clear the way if we run into more soldiers."

The strange assassin nodded her head in acknowledgement before the two men hurried down another hallway. Sayako then took Altina's small hand into her own and said, "Everything will be fine, my lady. Just stay close to me."

Altina could only nod before they hurried after the others, with Cath Palug riding on her shoulder. The young girl found herself wondering if she would really be able to leave this place. Despite their few numbers, her rescuers were able to infiltrate the castle catacombs in an attempt to free her. Were her creators so incompetent that they didn't plan for a potential attack if her existence got leaked out? She mentioned this to Sayako, who was thankfully able to answer her question.

"Oh, they were certainly prepared for a possible attack," the assassin responded. "Lord Rufus planned for many forms of infiltrations, including a small strike force. However, he never factored in the possibility of Merlin leading the charge. His clairvoyance is what allowed us to come this far."

Clairvoyance? Searching through the knowledge that she did possess, that meant that Merlin is able to see into the future. If that is true, then it is no surprise that her rescuers have been so successful with their operation. If their leader can see what will happen before it does, they can discuss all possible routes and determine which one is the most viable. After all, it is practically impossible to predict the actions of one who can see into the future.

The group soon found themselves at a garage of sorts. The large room was held up by several large concrete pillars and was lit up with electrical lights. There were many vehicles parked, but the one that caught Altina's attention was an armored black and purple truck parked near the exit. Standing by the vehicle was a young, petite girl with light pink hair tied into a ponytail, thick strands of hair falling next to her face, and rouge-red eyes. Her attire consisted of a white vest with a stiff collar pointing outwards, a long-sleeved black and purple tunic underneath, and a white skirt. She also had black gloves, long black boots, and pink leggings. In her right hand was a shortsword, its scabbard strapped to her waist.

There were about a dozen soldiers lying unconscious near the girl. Their weapons ranged from swords, spears, to even guns. It was clear that fighting did occur here as there were bullet holes and slash marks in the both the concrete and some of the vehicles. The girl looked relatively unharmed, with only a few scratches on her arms and legs, and only slightly fatigued.

"Are you alright, Anya?" Jeremiah asked in concern as he hurried over to the girl.

"I'm fine, Dad," the girl answered nonchalantly. "Just got into a little scuffle, is all. These people hardly posed a challenge for me." She turned her gaze at Altina and cracked a light smile. "So you're our new princess. It's nice to meet you. I'm Anya Gottwald. What's your name?"

"Altina," the homunculus answered simply. It was nice to see a person close to her age. Anya at first seemed like a stoic, detached person, but there was indeed some warmth in her. There even was the possibility of them becoming friends, but Altina found herself wondering if she even deserved that luxury.

The back of the armored vehicle opened up, revealing a man with lavender hair and greyish-blue eyes. He wore a green turtleneck, a white lab coat, as well as black pants and shoes. He also had a pair of large glasses that covered most of his face and a light smile, though it didn't appear to be genuine.

"If you all are done chatting, we'd best make our exit," the man said dismissively. "It won't be long before Cayenne's forces regroup and try to reclaim their master's 'pawn'. I for one do not want to be anywhere near this place once the lord and his right-hand find out she's gone."

Merlin nodded his head in acknowledgement. Thanks to his clairvoyance, the Mage of Flowers was able to predict when the castle's defenses were at their weakest. Right now, Lord Cayenne and Rufus Shinra were currently paying visit to another ruling lord in a far-off territory. Being as arrogant as he is, Cayenne brazenly took half of his security personnel with him, both to show off to his fellow leader and foolishly assuming that no one would dare sneak into his palace and sabotage his plans to rule all of Eternus.

"Agreed," the mage replied. "Everyone, into the truck. We've finished what we came here to do."

The others agreed and hurried into the armored vehicle, with Jeremiah taking the wheel. The male demon hastily turned on the engine and drove towards the exit that led to the outside world. Everyone else simply buckled down in their seats to make sure they didn't get thrown around, though Anya had to help Altina with her seatbelt as the younger girl was having a difficult time because of all the moving around.

"I'm sorry," Altina said sincerely. "It seems my reaction speed isn't the greatest."

"It's fine," Anya replied. "You've only been moving around for an hour or so. I'm sure you'll get your bearings soon. You are an Umbris after all."

Altina found herself smiling at that, though she had no idea why. "You said your last name was Gottwald. Are you related to Jeremiah?"

"No, not by blood anyway. My parents died when I was little over some political unrest in our territory. I barely managed to escape and wandered around the wilderness until Jeremiah found me. He ended up taking me in as his daughter and I've been with him ever since."

It brought a strange pain to Altina's heart to hear that the girl beside her had lost her family. Was this feeling, sorrow? She never could have imagined that there were those who lost their loved ones to tragedies like that. It would seem that the outside world is darker than she initially expected. Now she really worried if her family would accept her or not? Emotions may be new to her, but she felt that she couldn't handle such a rejection from her own siblings.

"Unfortunately, Anya's story isn't a rarity," the lavender-haired man spoke up. He was most likely the Dr. Lloyd that Jeremiah and the others have mentioned. "The political environment is very unstable, especially over the last few months. The nobles are vying for the throne and the commoners suffer from the turmoil they create. There's even rumors of the False King Zarc's potential return, which makes things even tenser for the populace."

"That can't be!" Sayako argued back. "That tyrant perished on Earth when he invaded Japan thirty years ago. There's no way he could still be alive."

Lloyd simply shrugged half-heartedly. "Except his body was never recovered. Plus there are rumors that his followers are plotting not only his return, but the return of something terrible."

"I've heard those rumors too," Jeremiah added. "I've even heard received word that my young master has infiltrated Arcanos's Order of Nightfall to uncover their plans. I do worry for his safety and wish to rush to his aid, but I must wait for his signal before doing something so rash."

"I too wish to return to Master Lelouch's side," Sayako agreed. "I've watched over him for thousands of years, waiting for the day when he is needed again. I will not let him down again, not after I failed to get his sister to safety that terrible day."

It became deathly silent within the armored truck as it drove into the night, under the cover of trees. Altina didn't know why but she had a feeling that something horrifying had happened years ago, in another era. She wanted to question it, but ultimately chose not to, unsure if whether or not she could handle it. As if reading her thoughts, Anya took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

After a few moments, Lloyd turned his gaze towards the Mage of Flowers. "Just to cover all bases, there's no way for Cayenne to track the girl, right?" he questioned intently. "It would be such a hassle if we wasted all this time preparing for this operation, only to have an entire army at our backs the very next day."

"You can relax, Dr. Lloyd," Merlin responded casually. "I made sure there weren't any tracking devices or spells on Altina the moment I freed her. Cayenne will find it very difficult to find her since he can't go public with this information for obvious reasons of course."

Jeremiah nodded his head in agreement. "Indeed. Even though homunculi are qualified to take the throne of Eternus as long as they are created from the blood of an Umbris, only the royal family has the authority to alloq such a thing," he explained. "If Cayenne went public that a homunculus he created from the blood of Altena, Zane, and Lucia was taken from him, he would lose his title and position as a ruling noble and be arrested."

"A shame we can't go public about this either," Anya spoke up in annoyance. "Since there's so little faith in the Umbris name, Altina's appearance would just put a big target on her back. We need someone who can restore the faith and respect the Umbris family once had."

Was such a thing possible? That was certainly unknown to Altina. The name "Altena" sounded familiar to her as well. Not only was it incredibly similar to her own name, but she felt that she had heard it before. One of the scientists must have mentioned it when she was in her pod. For some reason, whenever she thought of that name, she would visions of a woman with long, lustrous black hair. A woman who appeared both kind and fierce. Was it possible that that woman is meant to be her mother? If so, then is she still alive and how can she meet her?

Exhaustion started to overtake the girl, making her eyelids very heavy and her thoughts sluggish. Immediately noticing this, Anya told her that it was okay for her to get some sleep. It has been a stressful night for the homunculus, and she needed to recover her strength. The slightly older girl reassured her that she was safe and that though they had a long drive ahead of them, she would be meeting her siblings soon.

In the end, Altina couldn't fight it anymore and simply leaned into her chair and closed her eyes, falling asleep instantly. She looked relatively peaceful despite being an indirect member of the most powerful family in Eternus.

"I can't believe anyone would want to use her as a puppet to control our kingdom," Sayako said in disgust. "She may be a homunculus, but she deserves to choose how to live her life."

"Sadly there aren't a lot of demons who share that sentiment," Lloyd replied while going through his laptop to pass the time. "Most demons simply see homunculi as pawns or expendable tools. It's very rare for any of them to be treated as living beings like the rest of us."

Merlin agreed with the sentiment but remained silent. His clairvoyance only allowed him to see the present, the immediate future. Normally he wouldn't interfere as much as he already has, but given the stakes of what he has seen, he decided to make an exception. That and he felt that this was the best way to make amends with the Twilight Remnant after what he and _that man_ did to the boy during his first life as Zane.

With his future sight, Merlin saw the Dark Swordsman being consumed by a terrible shadow, a darkness of rage and resentment. This was the most fragile moment the Mage of Flowers has witnessed when he began his plans. The next battle will determine whether or not the three realms will have a future or not. It is impossible to stop coming darkness without Marth. His power will complete the group.

 _"Your brother's fate lies in your hands, Thorrnn,"_ the mage said to himself. _"You must awaken your power and your dragon. Otherwise, none of us can survive what is coming."_ He glanced out the darkened window, peering at the clear night sky. _"Your move, Morgan. Let's see if you can actually control that mad beast."_

* * *

**That Afternoon**

"Gaaah!"

Meg watched in worry as her brother got pierced in the shoulder by Scathach's Gae Bolg. After getting his ass handed to him by Lucius, Marth had decided to train even harder to awaken his demon blood. Since she was his mentor during the War of Light and Shadow, Scathach offered to take that role again and be his sparring partner. Naturally both Meg and Rias were worried about the Blade Eater since the Witch of Dun Scaith isn't known for holding back, but he assured them that this is what he wanted.

Kazuto, Kuroba, Yuna and C.C. tagged along as well, with the former two wanting some training of their own and the idol acting as moral support. The other AI, on the other hand, came simply to watch the half-demon fail. Fuko wanted to come as well, but since today was another territory battle, Kuroba told her old friend to focus on protecting their territory. Ever since Fuko regained her legs, she has become much more active in the Accelerated World, with her fighting in duels again. It was rather reassuring to see, especially when the group found out that she is a Remnant too.

"It's honestly surprising that quite a few of us are Remnants," Kirito spoke up. He was in his Aincrad form, with Elucidator and Dark Repulser in their scabbards. "I never would have expected Fuko to be one."

"Me neither," Kuroba agreed. She was in her Black Lotus form, her arm swords retracted as hands. "I always felt that I knew her long before we became friends. Now I know that she used to be my retainer during my life as Celine. Small world huh?"

Rias simply chuckled at that. "Indeed, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few other Remnants that we don't know about. Anyway, are you both ready?"

Both teens nodded and drew their swords while the demoness got into a fighting stance. With Marth deciding to up his training by sparring with Scathach, both Kirito and Kuroba wanted to do the same. While Scathach could easily handle all three at once, Rias felt it was best to take it slow, especially given her son's condition. As such, the Crimson Sorceress volunteered to be the duo's sparring partner.

As the trio began their battle, Meg returned her gaze to her brother, who was continuing to fight Scathach, despite being outclassed. Just like with Lucius, Marth couldn't seem to match the Witch of Dun Scaith's speed. Plus, thanks to her spear, she had the better reach. At least Scathach wasn't using her runes, not yet anyway. This was simply a clash between warriors.

"You've got a good spirit, Marth," Scathach commented as she parried Lunara away with a flick of her spear. "Just like back in the War of Light and Shadow. Unfortunately, you'll have to do a lot better than that to beat me."

Meg noticed that her brother tightened his grip on his swords. "I know," the male demon answered coldly. "I'll show you exactly what I'm capable of."

Scathach simply smirked before getting into a fighting stance. Marth made the first move and rushed at the spearwoman and swung his right sword towards her right arm. Scathach effortlessly parried it away with her lance before twirling around and blocking her foster son's follow up attack from his left sword. The two opponents exchanged a flurry of blows but neither one seemed to overpower the other.

"Marth can't win," C.C. suddenly spoke up. "He's up against the gatekeeper of Eternus, the woman who keeps the dark beasts living there from escaping. He's not ready to face such an opponent yet."

"Don't say that," Yuna refuted. "I've read about Marth's feats online and I think he can take her."

"Oh really?" C.C. challenged with a knowing smirk. "I seem to recall him getting destroyed by Lucius a few weeks ago. If it wasn't for Fuko's little rescue as well as Rias and Scathach's timely appearance, he most likely would have lost."

"W-well," Yuna stammered, unable to find a way to object to that statement.

Meg couldn't really argue that either. They were very lucky that Rias and Scathach made it in time to force Lucius to retreat. Even though they outnumbered him, the male demon lord was easily able to keep the tide in his favor. Demon lords are truly a force to be reckoned with.

Speaking of which, Rias was easily handling both Kirito and Kuroba, despite their skill as swordsmen. The Crimson Sorceress kept them at a distance with her spells and blocked any ranged attacks with a magic barrier. So far, neither teen has used an Incarnate attack, though they may be forced to use them if they want to make any progress. Kirito in particular was getting pretty annoyed at seeing his dark magic projectiles easily getting blocked by yet another barrier.

"Damn it," the Black Swordsman said bitterly. "This isn't working."

A barrage of black fire balls soared towards the swordsman, only to be cut down by the swords of the Black King. It was always incredible to see Kuroba fight. She is one of the few people Meg knows that can actually keep up with the Darkness Duo. She truly made an excellent partner for her beloved brother.

"I agree," Kuroba said firmly. "We may be forced to go all out if we want a chance to win this."

Kirito glanced at his partner in concern, but not before activating Spinning Shield with Dark Repulser to block the incoming barrage of elemental spears heading for them. Kuroba, on the other hand, just cut right through them as if she were dancing. "Are you sure?" he asked hastily. "I thought you said we can only use Incarnate attacks when we're attacked by them."

"I did," the black-haired fairy answered as she kept cutting through spears with her swords. "But this match is a test to push ourselves and become stronger. Plus our opponent is a demon lord. We can't really afford to hold back."

"True," Kirito said slowly as the barrage of magic finally ended.

Rias was twenty feet away from the duo. That's within the range of their Incarnate attacks. However, the demon lord was very much aware of them and how to evade them. They couldn't just unleash them and expect things to go well. They needed an actual plan.

"Kuroba, I'll keep Rias distracted. You focus on unleashing your Incarnate attack."

The Black King nodded her head in acknowledgement and pulled her right arm sword back as far as it could go. As she did so, Kirito rushed at the demoness with incredible speed, using his inhuman reaction speed to evade the many spells she fired to stop his advance. It took the Black Swordsman about ten seconds to close the gap and strike at Rias with the Dual Blades Sword Skill, Double Circular. However right before his swords made contact, Rias was able to block them with yet another magic circle.

"Nice try, Kirito," the crimson-haired woman said with a confidant smile. "But you'll have to do better than that to defeat me."

Kirito then smirked back. "Oh, I know," he said casually as he struggled to hold his ground against the sorceress. "But I did manage to keep your gaze off of Lotus."

"What?" Rias said in surprise. She looked over the boy's shoulder and saw Black Lotus's right arm sword was glowing purple, building up power. It was the one-hit special attack, Death By Piercing. It has the same range as Vorpal Strike, so it could only go about five feet, but Kuroba was too far away to strike the demoness. Which meant…

"I see," the sorceress realized. "So that's your plan. Let's see if you can actually pull it off."

Kirito could tell that Rias was about to move away. He had to keep her locked in place so that his partner could strike her with her special attack. An Incarnate Death By Piercing attack may be fast, but it wasn't unavoidable, especially for someone like Rias. He has to keep her here. He needs to show the demon lord just how strong he is, that he is strong enough to protect his friends.

Unbeknownst to him, his body became enveloped by a golden light and his eyes became yellow. His strength somehow increased as he was finding himself pushing his swords towards Rias, creating cracks in her barrier. Rias let out an audible gasp at seeing the human's newfound strength. Was this all from the boy's willpower? She even caught a glimpse of the first Kirito, a faded image of him wielding a black sword that absorbed light and a blue sword with a rose on the hilt.

 _"It can't be,"_ Rias thought in surprise.

That distraction proved to be a mistake as her barrier crumbled before her, allowing the dual-swordsman to press his attack. His speed had also increased as Rias was barely able to evade his attack by backflipping away. Kirito's body then went rigid due to the post-motion delay of using Sword Skills, giving the sorceress just the opening she needed. She said a quick apology to her son's best friend before striking him with a bolt of black lightning. Her spell hit true and sent a surge of electricity throughout Kirito's body. He screamed in pain before collapsing on the grass, his gold aura fading.

"Death By Piercing!"

Rias muttered a silent curse towards herself. She had forgotten about Kuroba. The reincarnated fairy lunged her right sword forward, sending a beam of purple light rushing towards the demoness. There wasn't enough time to teleport away or raise another barrier. Gritting her teeth, she opted to jump to the side to minimize any potential damage. With incredible speed, she was barely able to evade the augmented Death By Piercing, though her left side of her tunic did get scratched in the process.

"No way," Kuroba said in shock. It was unbelievable that she could have missed. She suddenly heard the sounds of a teleport to her right. She turned in that direction and saw none other than Rias. Before she could even react, the demon lord fired a barrage of dark magical arrows, damaging the Black King's armor and forced to her knees.

The female Driver looked up at the sorceress, the older woman holding a fireball right towards her face. "I…yield," Kuroba said reluctantly, her arm swords retracting back into hands. "You win again, Rias."

Rias let out a light chuckle as she dismissed her spell before offering her hand to the girl. "You did rather well, Kuroba," she said as pulled the fairy back on her feet. "You actually managed to damage my clothing and Kirito was able to break through my barrier. That's quite the achievement. You're both coming along quite nicely."

"Thank you, but I still haven't been able to fully awaken my fairy blood. At this rate, I don't know if I can do it in time to help Marth stop Arcanos."

The two glanced over and saw Marth barely able to defend against Scathach's onslaught. His swords were easily getting repelled and his Stormveil wall getting parted by the Witch's spear. Just seeing it made Kuroba's shoulder ache, reminding her of her link with Marth. Sometimes it sucked sharing a core with an Aegis, or Aegis Eater in this case.

"You have to be patient, Kuroba," Rias advised. "This is not something you can rush. I understand your impatience, I truly do. But we must have faith that we can find a way to save my son, your love. Lady Sinestra may help us achieve such a miracle."

Sinestra, the Goddess of Shadows and the progenitor of the demon race. No one truly knows if she managed to survive the War of Light and Shadow. No one has seen her in ages. If anyone could save her boyfriend, it would be her. Marth's condition was getting worse by the day. The ether in his body is attacking his demon cells, as if trying to purge him of it, but his demonic soul refused to yield and is fighting back. There were times where Marth couldn't even move because the pain was so bad. It broke Kuroba's heart to see him in such a state. Then there was his sister.

Meg was desperately trying to awaken her own demonic blood and has been relentlessly searching for a way to save her only brother. Such devotion made Kuroba feel a little jealous. Her family rarely gave her such affection.

 _"No,_ this _is my family,"_ she corrected. _"I don't care what happens, I'll protect Marth and my friends to the very end."_

"Well this just got interesting." That was Kirito. He must have recovered enough to get back on his feet and decided to watch the final duel with her and Rias.

Marth had just activated his most well-known skill, and arguably one of his strongest attacks. The sixteen-hit Dual Blades Sword Skill, Starburst Stream. This is one of the attacks that is practically ingrained in his muscle memory. His swords shining with azure light, he unleashed a flurry of slashes at his opponent. Scathach cracked a light smile before moving her left hand aside and created a copy of Gae Bolg. Projection magic!

She then began to effortlessly block the half-demon's assault, all while waiting for the perfect chance to strike. Thirteen slashes…fourteen slashes…they all ended in failure, unable to reach their target. It was after the fifteenth attack that Scathach saw her opening, one that both Kirito and Kuroba were well aware about. The sixteenth hit of Starburst Stream was a powerful overhead slash with the left sword, but it had a dramatic pause before happening. Since all Sword Skills are preset movements, and couldn't be canceled during their activation, there was nothing Marth could do to stop what was coming.

"It's over!" Scathach declared as she thrusted her left spear forward, right underneath Marth's left shoulder. Both he and Kuroba cried out in pain as blood poured from their wound. Since his body became unbalanced, the Starburst Stream was nullified, preventing the final hit.

Marth fell to one knee, his swords hitting the grass, and clutched his open wound with one hand. His breathing was rapid as he struggled to fight off the pain.

"Brother!" Meg shouted in worry as she hurried over to him. Once she reached him, she got on his level, extended an open palm to his injury, and channeled her mana into it. She may not have awakened her demon blood yet, but she was able to use some healing spells thanks to Rias's coaching.

"That was a decent fight," Scathach said firmly as she dismissed her left spear before twirling the real one with both hands. "However you cannot get by with copying Kirito's moves. You must make them your own."

"What are you talking about?" Marth questioned as the others approached them. "Kirito and I got the Dual Blades Skill at the same time. How am I copying him?"

Scathach simply rolled her eyes at that. "Did you seriously think it was a coincidence that Kirito managed to get the Dual Blades Skill and had an easier time replicating them after you both escaped that floating castle?" she said brazenly. "While his mind and body may not fully remember, parts of his soul does. Kirito was always a master when it came to dual wielding. You, or rather Zane, tended to switch from a single weapon to dual wielding during battle. It was Kirito who developed the Starburst Stream and The Eclipse attacks during the War of Light and Shadow. You simply learned them from him."

"No way," Meg said in shock. Now that she mentioned it, Meg did always notice that Kirito did have an easier time replicating the Dual Blades Sword Skills with the OSS system from Alfheim Online. Marth tended to require Kirito's help or another hour or so before he could get it down. Then there was the fact that Kirito was the first to recreate both Starburst Stream and The Eclipse. Her brother was barely able to recreate the sixteen-hit skill but could never finish the latter one, which had twenty-seven hits. The Black Swordsman ended up giving Marth an OSS scroll with the skill on it because the half-demon just couldn't do it.

"So Marth has to come up with his technique?" Yuna questioned. "That sounds hard."

"Yeah," C.C. added, her arms folded across her chest. "Especially since Marth here is used to relying on his Dual Blades skills for winning his fights."

"I guess I should do the same as well," Kuroba spoke up, catching everyone's attention. Her wound has since closed thanks to Rias. "I also find myself struggling to recreate the Starburst Stream, no matter how much coaching Kirito gives me. Maybe I'll have an easier time developing my own Dual Blades attack."

Kirito simply scratched the back of his head. "Maybe," he said dismissively. "But it is weird that you guys are both struggling with the Dual Blades techniques despite not being human. I would have thought you two would outclass me because of that."

"Everyone has things they are good at and bad at," Rias explained inquisitively. "Plus there are people that can adapt easier than others. Just because you're human doesn't mean you're weaker than us, Kirito. I've met quite a few humans who were incredibly powerful, easily able to hold their own against a demon or fairy."

That caught Kirito's interest as his eyes widened in excitement. "Really? Who were they?" he asked eagerly.

"Well one of them is me as I'm technically a human, just one cursed with immortality," Scathach spoke up. "Another is a huntress named Atalante. She was blessed by the wild at a young age and never missed a shot. If you were in her sight, you're dead."

Meg silently gasped when she heard the name. That was the name of the same cat-eared girl from her dream last night. So it was a memory from her first life because she has never seen anyone like that before in her current life. Then there were those knights. Who were they? What was their story? Also, why did Scathach's description remind her of a certain someone in Nega Nebulus?

"Don't forget Charlemagne and Astolfo," Rias added with a light smile. "Those two always seemed to brighten up the room with their antics, usually Astolfo. Cu Chulainn and Uathach were pretty powerful as well. Then there's _her_."

Meg raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Her? Who are you talking about?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't mention her." Scathach let out a scoff before looking away, towards a random direction. "Lianna Pendragon," she answered solemnly. "One of the few warriors who can match my spearmanship. We fought a few times before and after the war but there's never been a clear victor."

Pendragon? That name sounded familiar to the Emerald Fencer. Wait, it couldn't be. "Could she have any relation to King Arthur?"

"Indeed she does," the Witch of Dun Scaith replied. "Lianna is their aunt. Since she was a bastard child, she couldn't inherit the throne, but her skill with the spear didn't go unnoticed. Since Sinestra recruited me to help defend her lands, her sister Celestia decided to do the same. Lianna accepted the Goddess of Light's offer and was given immortality, though hers is less of a curse than mine. Even now, she still defends the realm of Arun."

"Cool," Kirito said in awe. "I kind of want to fight her just to see how long I'd last."

Marth let out an amused chuckle. "Oh, please. You'd barely last a few minutes if she went all out. One wrong move and you'll get shish-kebabbed. I only lasted this long against Scathach thanks to my affinity to the wind."

"True," Kirito replied with a casual smile. "You've always had a good grip at using wind and lightning magic. I bet once you fully awaken your demon blood, you'll practically rule the sky."

Everyone laughed at that, even C.C. It almost made Meg forget about the looming threat of Arcanos and his forces. She wanted to stay in moments like this, where she can hang out with her beloved brother and not worry over their survival. However, her little world was shattered by the sound of thunder. Dark clouds were gathering in the sky. That can't be right. The forecast said that there would be clear skies all day. A strong wind soon followed, rattling the nearby trees.

_Wolffff!_

That metallic voice boomed in the air, coming from all directions. Never has she heard a voice filled with so much anger and hatred. It chilled her right to the bone. What really terrified her was that it was directed towards her brother. She wasn't the only one to have heard it as Marth, Kirito, Kuroba and Scathach readied their weapons while Rias got into a fighting stance, all of them examining the area cautiously.

"Those clouds aren't normal," Rias advised. "Something is coming."

Yuna let out a whimper. "Uh, what could it be?" the idol questioned.

"I don't know," Kuroba spoke up. "I feel like I've heard that voice before. Kirito, Marth, can you tell where its coming from?"

"Nope," Kirito said grimly. "My Hypersense is warning me of danger, but I can't tell where. That's never happened before."

"Same with me," Marth added.

That didn't comfort Meg in the slightest. Hypersense was a skill that Marth and Kirito developed during their two years in that floating iron castle. It allowed them to sense the presence of others and even a person's killing intent. There have been many instances where it came in handy to avoid enemy ambushes. If this enemy is able to evade that, then they were in trouble.

Suddenly a metallic silver magic circle appeared under the group's feet, surrounding them. It was a teleportation circle! Kuroba ordered for everyone to move away, but they all found out that they couldn't move their legs, preventing their escape. Scathach readied a few runes in her open hand to try to destroy the circle, but before she could unleash them, the magic circle released a blinding light forcing everyone to shield their eyes.

When Meg finally opened her eyes, she found that she could move her legs again. However, their surroundings had changed. No longer were they in a city park, but a rocky highland with multiple stone pillars. From the corner of her vision, she could see a green gauge and an empty one below it. In the top center was a broken timer.

It can't be! That teleportation circle had brought her to the Unlimited Neutral Field within the Accelerated World. Thankfully she wasn't alone as Marth and the others were nearby, with the Burst Linkers now in their Duel Avatars.

"What the hell?!" Marth said in disbelief. "How did we get here? Who brought us here?"

"Wolfffff!"

It was that same metallic voice, only it sounded much closer than before but no less angry. She could even feel an ominous presence getting closer, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. As Thorrnn drew her rapier, she noticed that Kuroba had frozen up, her eyes wide as dinner plates.

"It can't be," the Black King said weakly. "But we destroyed it. It can't still exist. That's impossible!"

"What are you talking about?" C.C. questioned as she summoned her own sword. "Do you know what's coming?"

A large gray figure suddenly slammed into the ground, landing twenty feet away from the group, the collision creating a powerful shockwave that stirred up the dust and obscuring the group's vision. When the dust finally settled, it revealed a large being covered chrome armor. It had big shoulderpads, gauntlets and pauldrons. It had a strange v-shaped helmet with a red circular gem at the center as well as a dark blue collar. In its right hand was a massive red greatsword with a black hilt, an identical gem in the center.

The creature let out a bloodcurdling howl. It felt like the very world was shaking in response. "Wolf! You will pay!" it declared venomously. "My curse is eternal!"

In a rare instance, Thorrnn saw her brother step back in fear. He clearly knew who this person was. Where they another Burst Linker? No, the presence they gave off was too different. It mentioned something about a curse. Didn't Marth mention something about a curse that resided in Brain Burst that he helped stop? Both Kuroba and Kirito were frozen as well, meaning that they must know as well.

"It can't be," Marth said in disbelief. "Why are you back? Niko and I destroyed you! There shouldn't be anything left of you."

Niko, as in the Red King, Scarlet Rain, and leader of the Red Legion, Prominence. The younger girl mentioned something about teaming up with Nega Nebulus back when its numbers were small. But what was the reason for the temporary alliance? Thorrnn's blood ran cold as she put the pieces together.

It was impossible. This couldn't be real, and yet it was. A being that was believed to be destroyed and yet has returned to plague the Accelerated World yet again. A nightmarish creature who craves nothing but death and destruction.

Chrome Disaster.

**To be continued**

* * *

**Yeah, I ended with a cliffhanger, but it was just too good to pass up. I hope you guys look forward to what's coming. This arc is going to be pretty different from the light novels since a piece of Chrome Disaster never stuck to Marth, meaning it can't corrupt him like it did to Haruyuki. However, don't think that Marth's out of the woods because of that. He's got a few _issues_ of his own that put him in danger. If you like this chapter feel free to leave a review, but please give me some feedback of sorts if you make one. I like getting feedback from people as it helps me improve plus it gives me opportunities to interact with people. Anyway, I'll see you guys next time!**


	41. Surviving Disaster

**May 31, 2057**

Marth couldn't believe his eyes. Even with the knowledge that gods, fairies and demons actually exist, not to mention magic, he never would have thought Chrome Disaster of all things could potentially return. It had taken everything he had to destroy the cursed Enhanced Armament when Cherry Rook wore it eight months ago, and even then, Niko had to use the Judgement Blow on her guardian to free him from its darkness and end the curse. She, Marth, Kuroba, Asuna, Kirito and Sinon even checked their inventories to make sure the Armament didn't go to them. There shouldn't be anything left of Chrome Disaster, so how could it have returned?

"This doesn't make any sense," Kuroba spoke up, interrupting the boy's thoughts. Her gaze remained locked on the being in front of her, her guard not wavering. "How could the Armor of Catastrophe still be around. We of Nega Nebulus and the Red King saw to its destruction. The armor should have been deleted from Brain Burst."

"Well it looks like it somehow managed to survive," Kirito said warily. "I wouldn't be surprised if Arcanos had a hand with its return. He doesn't strike me as someone who's picky with his allies."

Marth had to agree with his partner's theory. There is no doubt that Arcanos had learned about the Armor of Catastrophe and would seek to add it to his ranks. This is a being that threatened the balance of the entire Accelerated World. A being that is able to corrupt any Burst Linker and take them over with its darkness. It took the combined might of all the Seven Kings of Pure Color to defeat it just once. Marth was able to defeat it on his own, but that was after it had taken a few hits from Kuroba's razor sharp swords.

What is strange though is that the Armor's appearance is the exact same as before, save for that weird collar. The Black King had mentioned during the fifth incident that the Armor of Catastrophe's appearance changed depending on the Burst Linker's Duel Avatar. This miniscule change suggested that Cherry Rook is inside that thing, but that can't be as once a Burst Linker is banished from the Accelerated World, they can never return. Such is the rules of this harsh world. So then who was inside that monstrosity? Was there anyone there at all?

Chrome Disaster unleashed an ear-splitting howl before rushing towards the group at blinding speeds. Marth braced himself for the coming attack, only for Scathach to suddenly intercept and enter a weapon lock with her spear. Sparks flew into the air as the two attempted to overpower the other.

"You're strong," Scathach commented, a wicked grin plastered on her face. "This might actually be fun."

The chrome avatar simply growled like a feral beast before glancing over at Marth in a cold stare, almost like a hunter to its prey. A dark miasma began radiating off of parts of his body, from his mouth, his arms and legs. Disaster then barred its fangs and lunged towards the purple-haired spearwoman.

"Get away, Scathach!" Kuroba cried out in warning. "It can absorb HP from people with his jaws. There's no telling what will happen if you get caught in that."

The Black King was right to be concerned for the Witch of Dun Scaith's safety. If a Burst Linker dies in the Unlimited Neutral Field, they can just respawn after an hour. However, if two level 9 players, King players, were to fight, the loser would lose all their burst points and be banished from the Accelerated World. Other than that, there was no risk to a player's life here, unlike the floating castle of Aincrad. However, such protection does not exist for Scathach and Rias. They are technically foreign objects in this world and shouldn't be here, but thanks to magic, such a feat became possible. But this came with a price. Since neither of them were Burst Linkers or NPCs of this world, there was a high probability that their very souls could get deleted should their HP deplete to zero. Such was the fate of Cyan Demon when he was defeated by Marth, Kirito and Asuna.

It was because of this risk that Rias had been hesitant on assisting her son for so long before deciding that she had to join the fray. Well, that and concern on how he would react if he found out that she is a demon. On the upside, because Brain Burst takes a person's psyche, their mental scars, as a basis to determine how a Burst Linker should fight, this did allow Rias and Scathach to fight largely unhindered.

However, despite this knowledge, Marth still couldn't bring himself to relax. While both of his mothers are exceptionally powerful, so is Chrome Disaster. In fact, the metal avatar gave off an even more powerful presence than last time. It brought back dangerous memories, that of the Demon War and of his battle against Lucius. He could feel his own heartrate increasing just from that.

 _"No,"_ Marth thought to himself with the shake of his head. _"I can't let my fear overwhelm me, otherwise I'll Zero Out. That's not going to help anyone."_

Brain Burst truly is a cruel world. Just as positive emotions can help augment a player thanks to the Incarnate System, negative emotions, such as fear and despair, can render a player immobile and completely powerless. Both Marth and Kuroba had such experiences during the last Chrome Disaster incident; the regret of beheading the previous Red King, Red Rider, for Kuroba, while for Marth it was the trauma of the Demon War and the destruction he caused in it. It was because of that trauma that the Dark Swordsman refused to use the power of his, or rather Fenrir's, Artifice, Siren. He just can't trust himself with it again. He didn't want to cause any more destruction.

 _You have a noble heart, my prince._ That was Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon, Marth's dragon/spirit partner. _You truly are proof that there are still honorable demons. If the situation becomes dire, call upon me and I shall destroy your enemy. That is my role as your protector._

Marth silently hoped that it wouldn't come to that. He is one of the many members of Nega Nebulus to possess a dragon card with the spirit of a divine beast, and one of the few who has been able to summon them. The dragons were powerful, easily on par with Siren. Due to that similarity, the members of the Black Legion all took a vow to only use their dragons when it is absolutely necessary after their battle against Lucius.

Back to the fight before him, Scathach was doing remarkably well with holding off the behemoth that is Chrome Disaster. Her movements were a blur, nearly impossible for the dual swordsman to see. Whenever Chrome Disaster tried to exploit an opening, the Witch of Dun Scaith countered him easily. It is clear why she is considered to be one of the most powerful warriors in Eternus.

However, Disaster's focus seemed off. It was definitely being no pushover against the spearwoman, but there was an irritation in its swings. There were also moments where during weapon locks that Disaster would look behind its opponent, eyeing the bigger group, or rather, someone. Scathach caught onto this as well.

"What's the matter?" she said goadingly as she pressed her spear against Disaster's massive red sword. "Am I not the opponent you want? Well too bad. If you want the boy, you'll have to get past me."

Chrome Disaster growled in anger.

"Watch yourself, Scathach!" Rias cried out in warning. "That thing isn't the kind of opponent you should be angering."

"It's fine, Rias," the gatekeeper of Eternus replied calmly. "I've got this under con—" She went silent as the miasma around Disaster intensified.

Disaster began pushing back against Gae Bolg. It was as if its very rage was increasing its physical strength. Her position unfavorable, Scathach jumped backward before firing a barrage of fire runes at the creature, creating an explosion of flames and smoke that surrounded her and her target. She paused for a moment, her spear not lowering, and examined the area to find her opponent.

Suddenly Scathach felt a rush of wind blow past her. Her eyes widened as she realized what had happened. Chrome Disaster had taken advantage of the smoke to get around her and reach his true target.

"Marth, look out!" she shouted hastily. "It's coming for you!"

Out of pure instinct, the Dark Swordsman managed to raise his black sword, Lunara, just as Chrome Disaster appeared before him. In what felt like an eternity, Marth was somehow able to block the red greatsword from cutting him in half, however he soon found himself being pushed back from the momentum the armored avatar was using, separating him from his comrades.

Thorrnn was frozen from pure shock as she watched her only brother being pushed away from her at high-speed. This painfully reminded her of the battle against Lucius. Just like then, one thing was abundantly clear. Chrome Disaster wasn't interested in her or C.C. It wasn't targeting Kirito or Kuroba either, much less the powerful fighters that were Rias and Scathach. It was after Marth. It wants revenge for its defeat from her brother's hand.

* * *

"Raaaah!"

Marth lunged Solaris forward with a Vorpal Strike, his appearance changing to that of his Dark Swordsman attire. The gold sword ran through Disaster's right flank, with the dual wielder sliding past the bigger avatar in the process. A black miasma seeped out of the open wound and the creature let out a grunt in pain. Disaster then turned around and readied an overhead slash to strike the half-demon's back.

Suddenly Lunara lit up with a blue light effect and its wielder turned around in a swift movement. Marth proceeded to execute the four-hit One Handed Sword Skill, Vertical Square. This was all thanks to a skill that only three people can use, Skill Connect. The black divine blade clashed against the larger weapon with three vertical slashes, each hit slowing down the greatsword's momentum. Upon the fourth hit, Marth was able to get into a swordlock with the behemoth.

The half-demon gritted his teeth tightly almost to the point where he felt like they might break from the pressure. It took all of his focus to keep the red sword away from his body, his arm straining in the process. As if to make things worse, Chrome Disaster was steadily putting force into its sword, the blade slowly getting closer to Black Wolf. Disaster even seemed to be grinning, almost like it could see its inevitable victory. Lunara seemed to be screaming as it struggled to keep the other weapon away from its master. This was not looking good for the dual swordsman.

"Die Wolf!" Chrome Disaster declared. "None will stop my curse. I will devour everything, even that Fencer."

Marth's eyes widened in shock. It can't be. Disaster knows his relationship with Thorrnn, that they are siblings. Why else would it make such a remark? The mere thought of this cursed being even so much as threatening his only remaining relative infuriated him. Ever since he had gotten out of SAO, Marth has been trying to rekindle his strained relationship with his sister. The last few months have especially brought the two closer, practically to the point where Marth would get protective whenever a male teenager tried to talk to Thorrnn, much to the latter's chagrin.

There is no way he'll ever let this hulking brute anywhere near his dear sister. He refused to let anyone hurt her again. If they so much as harmed even a single hair on her head, then not even the depths of Hell itself would keep them safe from the Dark Swordsman's wrath.

A dark aura flared around Marth's body, his eyes becoming red as blood. The strain even lessened to an extent. Chrome Disaster looked surprised, unconsciously taking a step backward.

"Don't…ever…say that…again!" Marth said in cold anger. "If you…so much as _scratch_ her…I'll make sure you never see another sunrise."

In all the years that Chrome Disaster has existed, there was one emotion it never truly felt. Why would it feel that emotion? It is the Armor of Catastrophe, a cursed Enhanced Armament that plagues the entire Accelerated World. It is Burst Linkers that feel this emotion whenever they see it, not the other way around. That emotion…is fear.

With renewed strength, Marth was able to knock his opponent's sword away. Disaster was sent backward a few feet as well, its heavy armor coming in handy. The two opponents locked eyes with each other and readied their weapons. A light breeze brushed past them, ruffling the Dark Swordsman's hair and coat.

They then rushed at each other, their swords poised to strike.

* * *

How could she have been so foolish? She should have known that the Armor of Catastrophe would target her boyfriend first. Chrome Disaster's consciousness came from the personalities of all its previous owners, with its original owner serving as the center. A Burst Linker that angry and vindictive would most certainly want revenge against the one who defeated them.

Kuroba had to hurry. Marth may be strong, very strong in fact, but this new Chrome Disaster seemed even more powerful than before. He can't defeat it alone. He needs help fast. She prayed to whatever god that may be listening that she won't be too late.

The loud sounds of weapons clashing rang through the air. Bolts of purple lightning could be seen blasting stone pillars in the distance, scraping off small boulders in the process. There was even a strong breeze coursing through the rocky highlands. The wind felt a little strange to the Black King.

"Sounds like Marth's holding his own against Chrome Disaster," Kirito commented as they all hurried towards the sounds of battle.

"Yes, but for how long?" C.C. replied. "I have witnessed some of the battles against the Armor of Catastrophe and even I can see that something has changed. I've never seen Chrome Disaster this powerful before."

"All the more reason we need to hurry to my son's aid," Rias spoke up. "He can't defeat it alone."

It didn't take long for them to reach the clearing where the battle was taking place. There Kuroba watched in horror as her beloved protégé was firing blasts of purple lightning, destroying parts of the rocky pillars, and fighting with the savagery of a berserker. There was a dark aura surrounding him as well, and there was the fact that his Incarnate Vorpal Strikes were a shade of black instead of their usual bloodred. There was no righteousness or noble intent coming from Black Wolf, just anger and bitterness. His coat as the Dark Swordsman was covered in gashes while Disaster's armor was in the same state.

Her heart ached at the sight. This was what she was afraid of. Somehow Marth had tapped into the dark side of the Incarnate System. She had to stop him quickly before it corrupted his entire soul.

Abandoning any sense of reason, Kuroba rushed into the clearing hoping to put a stop to her protégé's crazed state. Rias and the others urged her to come back, but she pushed their words to the back of her mind. She had to bring him back to his senses. That was her duty as not only his guardian, but also his partner.

She soon closed the distance between Wolf and Disaster. The two were rushing at each other, their swords raised overhead. Seeing the Armor of Catastrophe as the bigger threat, the Black King chose to intercept his attack first, hoping that Marth still had enough rationale to not attack her.

With an unnatural speed that would put Asuna to shame, Kuroba appeared before Disaster and blocked his massive sword with both her arm swords. The amount of power behind the swing was incredible. Had it not been for the increased durability she had gained from her resonance with Marth, such an attack might have been able to create some hairline fractures among her swords. Unfortunately, she was rendered immobile as Chrome Disaster was trying to crush her into the ground, forcing all her energy into keeping him at bay.

The clanging of metal echoed behind her. For a brief second, Kuroba spared a glance from behind her shoulder to see a familiar figure in green holding back the legendary blades with her rapier, albeit barely. She should have expected that she would intervene as well. After all, she is Black Wolf's sister.

* * *

Thorrnn let out a grunt as she struggled to hold back the twin swords of her elder sibling. She knew from the start that blocking Marth's swords would be hard because of his great physical strength, but even with that knowledge in mind, his strength feels abnormal. That dark aura around him frightened her as well, not to mention his bloodred eyes.

She could sense the anger and malice practically radiating off of the dual wielder. Her brother was known for having a fierce anger if he was provoked enough, which was very rare to do, but she has never seen his anger overtake him this much. Here in the Accelerated World, such hatred may increase one's power and win whatever battles they are in, but it could also corrupt them and lead them down a dangerous path. Such is the dark side of the Incarnate System.

No matter what happens, she couldn't let her only remaining family member continue down this path. Her brother has always protected her, whether it was that terrible Christmas Eve years ago, or against school bullies when they were adopted by the Furutas. Now it was her turn to protect him.

"You…would get…in _my way_?" Marth said venomously as he put more force into his swords.

It wounded Thorrnn's heart to hear him address her in such a way. But she couldn't back down. She had to free him from whatever trance was over him.

"Snap out of this, Brother!" she cried out in worry. "This isn't like you at all." She let out a grunt of pain as she stumbled onto one knee but somehow managed to keep the swordlock. "Come back to us. Come back to me. Please, Marth!" She put all of her hope and will into her words, desperately clinging onto the wish that her words could reach the brother she cared so much about.

Fortunately, as if the gods themselves were listening to her plea, the hatred in Marth's eyes faded, returning to their usual blue. The dark aura around him faded as well, as if it never existed. His face overcome by confusion, he pulled his swords away, freeing Emerald Fencer from being pinned down.

"What the? Thorrnn?" Marth said slowly. "What was I…"

Thorrnn smiled in relief and tackled him into a hug. Thankfully Marth didn't lose his footing from the sudden action.

"Thank goodness," she said in joy as tears threatened to escape her eyes. "You came back. Thank goodness."

"Uh, did I go somewhere, because I thought I was fighting Chrome Disaster."

The mention of the Armor of Catastrophe snapped the female half-demon out of her reverie. She let go of her brother and turned around to see that Kuroba, Scathach and Kirito were locked in combat with the chrome avatar, doing everything in their power to keep him from reaching the siblings.

"Glad to see that you've calmed down, Marth," Rias said as she, C.C. and Yuna approached the duo. "Do you think you can keep fighting?"

"Y-yeah, I think so," the half-demon replied with a slight nod.

Thorrnn and the others hurried to surround Chrome Disaster, though since Yuna lacked any combat skills, the AI idol had decided to stay behind Emerald Fencer while readying one of her songs to buff up her comrades. Seeing that it was completely trapped, the Armor of Catastrophe let out a growl as it grasped its sword with both hands.

"I will devour you all!" Chrome Disaster declared loudly.

Suddenly it was struck in the stomach by bolts of darkness. The wounds weren't very deep, but it did manage to redirect the avatar's attention to the Black Swordsman, whose extended right hand was surrounded by a dark miasma.

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Kirito said nonchalantly. "Any chance you can something different before we destroy you again?"

"We won't let you run rampant in the Accelerated World anymore," Kuroba added, her swords held in a guard position. "This time we'll make sure no trace of you is left."

The Cursed Armament simply roared in outrage before charging at Marth once more. The Dark Swordsman braced himself and prepared to use the wind support spell, Zephyr, to increase his speed to dodge the oncoming attack. However, as soon as Chrome Disaster moved just a few feet towards his target, his collar suddenly lit up and began surging with electricity.

Disaster howled in pain as it gripped its collar in an attempt to pull it off, but that only made the electricity stronger. Eventually it couldn't take anymore and simply slouched where it was. A metallic silver magic circle then appeared below its feet.

"My… _mistress_ …is calling me back," the chrome avatar said in irritation. He then locked eyes with Marth. "But know this, Black Wolf. I will have my revenge on you. This world shall know my anger for eternity."

"Your anger?" Thorrnn questioned, not lowering her rapier even an inch. "What do you mean?"

Chrome Disaster simply chuckled to himself. "You will know in due time, Emerald Fencer. This world took everything from me, so now I shall do the same to everyone else. _This_ is my curse! Nothing shall ever dispel it. Nothing!"

And with that, Chrome Disaster teleported away, likely returning to the real world. With the danger gone, Thorrnn and the others relaxed and lowered their weapons. No one said anything. The only noise in the clearing came from the wind rushing past them.

"Well this just got a lot worse," C.C. spoke up after a while, breaking the silence. "What should we do?"

"It's simple really," Kuroba replied. "We gather the rest of Nega Nebulus and form a strategy. We must prepare for Chrome Disaster's inevitable return."

* * *

Morgan le Faye let out a heavy breath in exhaustion. It took way more mana than she anticipated to call Chrome Disaster back from the Accelerated World. She had already used up a lot of her mana just to revive him with that tiny speck of his armor. She'll have to be careful the next time she tries to use her new pawn.

 _"I should have expected that it would go after Marth,"_ she pondered to herself. _"He was the one who defeated it during the last incident. I'm glad I had the foresight to put that control spell on it the moment I finished reviving him."_

She looked around to examine her new home. It was an abandoned building somewhere in Shibuya. The building had definitely seen better days and the lighting was awful, but at least she had a roof over her head. Now that the Black Legion was aware of the Armor of Catastrophe's return, she'll have to do a better job of keeping it under control.

She turned towards her new pawn, which was contained within a purple magic circle. This particular one helps the sorceress keep Disaster in a sort of stasis, rendering it immobile. This alone was hard to do as she was constantly suppressing the brute's overwhelming desire to devour everything within the Accelerated World. This took a toll on her already low mana reserves, but this building was on a ley line, so Morgan was able to slowly recover her strength by siphoning off it.

 _"This would be a lot easier if I had my staff,"_ she grumbled to herself. _"The Scepter of Yggdrasil augmented my magical skills and improved my mana reserves. There's no telling what Zane did to it after he defeated me during the Battle of Camlann."_

There was the possibility that Zane kept the Scepter and hid it within his fortress, the Black Castle Delsgade. That would be the logical thing to do because it was a divine weapon like his sword, Lunaris. However, the Black Castle hasn't been seen for centuries, maybe even millennia. If the rumors she had heard from the Order of Nightfall were to be believed, Delsgade was in Eternus, but it was near impossible to track. Arcanos was especially disappointed in this as there was no telling what Zane had hidden there, things that could potentially make the demon lord's plans even easier.

There was even one rumor that a powerful sorceress had made her home there and acted as its guardian. Any scouts were lucky to return those missions to locate the fortress were positively pale, as if the life had been sucked out of them. They would mutter something about a red moon before succumbing to death. After losing several teams of scouts, Arcanos was forced to abandon the search to preserve what little manpower the Order had.

There was no doubt that Arcanos had a hunch on who this sorceress from the rumor might be. A woman known for her terrifying might that rivaled even the Crimson Sorceress and the Queen of the Fairies. There were many horror stories of entire battalions of monsters being wiped out by just her spells.

Morgan also had a hunch on the sorceress's identity. One night she was able to examine the bodies of the survivors and noticed some bite marks on their necks, bite marks that looked humanoid. It was almost like their very blood was sucked out of them. There was only one individual who has a history of such a thing, and it is from her that the stories of vampires came about. This was a person that Morgan could never defeat, even with the Scepter of Yggdrasil. One of the few people she has ever feared.

 _"Well then, Grandmother,"_ Morgan thought to herself. _"Once I recover my strength, it appears we're overdue for a reunion."_

* * *

Rufus Shinra stood silently as he watched his lord stomp throughout the lab, practically fuming towards the scientists. They had just returned from their visit to the Stromgarde territory. It's leader, Darion Mograine, is an avid supporter of the Umbris family and has been trying to locate the Twilight and Dusk Remnants after receiving word of their rebirth.

Croire de Cayenne supposedly had new information to share regarding Altena's children and journeyed to Stromgarde to share it with his fellow lord. Rufus, however, knew that it was yet another false lead to keep Darion off their tail. If the Highlord learned that Cayenne was trying to create a homunculus out of the blood of the members of the Umbris family, then it would practically be a declaration of war. Darian would gather his knights, storm the castle and retrieve the homunculus before Cayenne could even try to use them for his own political ambitions.

"So you mean to tell me is that not only did a small squad steal my homunculus," Cayenne ranted angrily, "but they also destroyed all our remaining blood samples of the Umbris family?"

The scientists were sweating like pigs from the death glare that their lord gave them. For some reason, Rufus found it quite amusing.

"Y-yes, my lord," one of the scientists yelped, desperately trying to speak in complete sentences. "We can confirm that the intruders have destroyed the blood collection we had of Altena, Zane and Lucia."

"DO YOU FOOLS KNOW HOW DIFFICULT IT WAS TO ACQUIRE THAT BLOOD?!" Cayenne roared, startling the scientists even more. "I've been saving that bitch, Altena's blood for centuries, waiting to acquire fresh samples of her reincarnated children. Her blood alone was difficult to obtain since she's dead! Now her stupid friend, Rias Morningstar, is watching over her children so I can't even try to retrieve more of their blood. Did you idiots manage to implant a tracking device into the girl?"

"Yes we did! The girl and her rescuers are heading west, towards the Obsidia ruins."

"Good. At least you lot aren't entirely useless." Cayenne then turned towards his right-hand man. "Rufus, I want you to take a battalion and retrieve _my_ pawn. I want it back alive. Do what you will with its rescuers."

Rufus took a slight bow. "As you wish, my lord. I shall begin preparations right away." He turned with certainty and marched away.

As soon as he was a good distance away from the lab, Rufus smiled in triumph. That idiot, Cayenne, doesn't suspect a thing, just as the wizard planned. He and his scientists don't even know that Rufus himself extracted the tracer from Altina's body the day before the attack. He then put it on a familiar and ordered it to head west the moment the rescue operation began, and in the total opposite direction of where the escape vehicle fled.

He ducked into an empty room before taking out a communication device. He made a quick check to ensure that the message couldn't be traced. This would all fall apart if Cayenne or his forces caught on after all. He dialed a number on the device and brought it to his ears.

After a few moments of rings, someone on the other end finally picked up. "Well? How did it go?"

"Quite well, Master Merlin," Rufus answered calmly. "Cayenne has taken the bait. You should be clear to proceed with the next phase."

"Great work," the Mage of Flowers replied. "I knew it was wise to send you to spy on that man. He was always too power-hungry for his own good. The information you provided proved vital with ensuring Altina's retrieval."

"I am happy to be of service, Master. I will keep Cayenne's forces busy with, as the human's say, a wild goose chase. Make sure to give Lady Morningstar my regards."

"Will do. Take care of yourself. Your help will be needed again for the next part of our plan."

Ah yes, the Mage of Flower's ambitious plan. One that he has been preparing for three decades, ever since the end of the Demon War. A risky plan that will decide the fates of Earth, Arun, and Eternus. A plan to counter the ambitious plan of Arcanos. Each piece must be played in the exact right place or else everything will be reduced to ruin. There was only four months left until the Grave Eclipse returns. If the plan doesn't proceed smoothly, then they would not be ready to handle what is coming.

"Fear not, my master," Rufus assured. "I will fulfill my role. The seven must be reunited once again. I am just honored that I am among the chosen to walk this path."

Merlin laughed on the other line. "Haha. Let us hope that things continue to move on course. If time flows in the direction it should, we should see each other soon." He then hung up.

Rufus double-checked to make sure that no one in the castle picked up on the call. After concluding that he did manage to avoid detection, he pocketed his communication device and strolled back into the hall. Things were starting to get interesting. He can only hope to Lady Sinestra that everything Merlin has foreseen comes to fruition.

**To be continued**

* * *

**Okay this chapter was shorter than usual but it felt like a decent stopping point. I was hoping to get a Nakamura scene in this one but it just didn't come up (plus I've been feeling blah all day). I'll try to get him in the next chapter since like I mentioned previously, he plays a major role in this arc. Anyway, let me know what you guys think and I'll see you guys next time!**


	42. Aftermath

**May 31, 2057**

Another nightmare. This wasn't even a rare occurrence. Not to Elie Mograine. Ever since she turned fourteen, she had been having terrible dreams she didn't fully understand. Even now at the ripe age of eighteen, the nightmares persisted, and she was no closer to solving their intent.

She was on a battlefield, watching in horror as strange humanoid monsters began overrunning the field. Dark clouds were covering the sky, purple lightning dancing in the air. A childlike laughter from the creatures echoed everywhere, unnerving the girl.

"Not this place again," Elie said in sorrow.

While her nightmares have shown her many places she has never seen before, this field was her least favorite. She knew from the environment that this was in Eternus, but not where this battle occurred. The entire field was ravaged by fire and darkness, killing most of the plant life and creating a terrible scar within the land. Only a small band of fighters were there to fight off the strange monsters, though Elie could never get a good look at their faces.

While the smaller group were putting up a remarkable fight, they were slowly losing. They were vastly outnumbered and badly wounded. It was remarkable that most of them even had the strength to keep fighting. Three warriors in particular were quite interesting. The first was a blonde woman in a blue battledress, wielding a white and golden sword bathed in holy light. Despite her grievous wounds covering her body, she refused to fall and kept cutting down anything that dared attack her.

The second warrior was also a woman, but her hair was slightly paler and much longer. Her pearl-white armor was stained in dark blood and in desperate need for repair. Her twin swords were the same color as her armor, although would be hard to tell given how bloody they were at the moment.

Why was Elie having this dream again? What was the point? It's not like she can change the outcome, which she has seen numerous times. She was simply an observer here. No one could see her. No one could hear her.

"Raaaaa!"

And now came the white-haired girl's least favorite part of this nightmare. She turned her head towards a tall hill on her left, where she saw two people locked in a deadly duel. One was an older man with silver hair and bloodred eyes, dressed in black armor and a crimson cape while wielding a wicked black greatsword. The second person was a young man with raven-black hair and bloodred eyes. He wore a black overcoat with twin tails, as well as red and gold trimming, red gloves, and black pants and boots. He was wielding a black and gold longsword with a wing-shaped pommel pointed towards the hilt.

They were both gravely injured, dark blood pouring from their wounds and staining the ground beneath their feet. However despite the immense pain and ache they must have been feeling, neither one relented as their swords furiously clashed against each other. Each clash felt as though the entire world was shaking.

The older man said something to the younger swordsman, but Elie was too far away to hear nor could she move any closer to even try. A dark miasma surrounded the young man. Even from this distance, the white-haired girl could sense an immense power surging within the swordsman.

Anger, rage, fury, all of them were practically radiating off of the boy. He let out a terrifying howl as his hair became an unnatural white. With renewed strength, the boy pressed his attack, his sword slashes becoming increasingly erratic.

"No, that's just what he wants!" Elie cried out in warning, but as usual, no one reacted to her plea.

The older swordsman was able to block all of his opponent's strikes, but he was clearly getting worn out because of the increased power behind every swing. The toll from his wounds were also catching up with him, making his movements become sluggish.

The two swordsmen readied their final attacks, each aiming for a fatal blow to finish off the other. As their swords closed in, Elie closed her eyes and looked away in sorrow. She didn't want to see this again. Just the first time was bad enough to scar her. She simply prayed to Sinestra that this all ended soon before she started to break down.

* * *

Elie let out a gasp as she sat up in a swift motion. She took a quick look at her surroundings and saw that she was in the library of the Eastern Academy in Eternus. There were a few students and faculty within the building, but none of them so much as looked at her.

She let out a deep breath as she rubbed her golden eyes with one hand. Her outfit was a black and red school uniform consisting of a jacket, undershirt, a black skirt and shoes. Her long white hair was worn straight and decorated with a black ribbon. Hidden within her hair were her pointed ears.

 _"I can't believe I fell asleep here,"_ Elie thought to herself, looking at the variety of books she had gotten to read. _"I came here to study, not catch up on my sleep. Then again, it's not like I got much sleep last night thanks to all the noise Astolfo was making."_

She like the rest of the students at the Eastern Academy stayed at the school dormitories that were on campus. And unfortunately for the white-haired girl, her room was right next to the craziest person in the whole academy, if not the entire Sutherland province. To make matters worse, she was in the same class as him, so she was forced to deal with his antics on a daily basis.

Why in the Goddess's name did her foster father think it wise to send her here in the territory of Viceroy Cornelia vi Britannia? She could have easily attended one of the academies within the Stromgarde province or stayed safe within the walls of her father's castle. There are barely any demons in the northern territory who tolerated her existence, sending her here was practically feeding her to the wolves. But no, apparently she spends too much time indoors and needed to get out to see the world, so her father registered Elie for the Eastern Academy and sent her off despite her protests.

Apparently, he also spoke with Cornelia to ensure her safety, but it sure didn't feel that way with how much she gets picked on by the other students. Both they, and the faculty, simply saw her as a freak. But in a way, she was a freak. After all, she was a rare being born with both fairy and demon heritage. A twili.

Given the rocky history between the fairies and demons, it was practically unheard of for the two races to have children together. It was considered a serious taboo and the penalties for breaking it were very severe. However, there were the rare instances where a fairy and a demon would fall in love and give birth to a child. Unfortunately, while it may be considered romantic how two beings on opposite spectrums could even fall in love with each other, they almost never got a happy ending.

The penalty for breaking the taboo was one thing, the parents would be executed and the child forced into exile, though there were horror stories of the children getting the death penalty too. Such was the fate of Elie's parents when she was six years old. The family was living in a remote corner in Eternus and were perfectly happy. Unfortunately that happiness ended when a battalion of demons suddenly attacked their home and burned it to the ground. Her father stayed behind to hold them off while she and her mother fled to safety in the woods.

That very battalion soon began catching up to the duo, prompting her mother to hide Elie in a bush and try to lead the enemy away from her daughter. The young girl had pleaded with the older fairy to not go, but her mother gave her one last smile and told Elie that she loved her before running off. The young twili soon heard her mother scream in pain as her life was taken, prompting her to run in the opposite direction.

In both her haste and her vision clouded by tears, Elie ended up stumbling into a nearby river and was washed miles away from her old home. As though the gods took pity on her, she was later rescued by Viceroy Darion Mograine, who was on one of his many searches to find the reincarnated prince and princess of Eternus, and brought to his castle. Understandably, it took weeks for Elie to open up to her new caregiver as she slowly began recovering from the traumatic experience.

Darion was one of the few demons who didn't hold any prejudice towards the twilis. When Elie asked why he didn't, her new father said that his prince wouldn't approve of such behavior. It was honestly admirable that the northern viceroy still possessed a firm loyalty for the Umbris royal family despite their long absence. It kind of made Elie want to meet this supposed reincarnated prince to see why.

 _"As if that'll ever happen,"_ she passed off. _"There's no way a prince would want to meet me, a freak. Besides, there's still no proof that he even reincarnated to begin with."_

Elie had the temptation to give her father a call but, in the end, chose not to disturb him. He was aware of her terrible nightmares, but even he had no explanation for them. The best he could offer was that it must be the will of Goddess Sinestra to show her what happened to Zane during the War of Light and Shadow. It wasn't the greatest explanation as there was still the question of why _she_ was chosen, but it was better than nothing.

_"Besides, Father is probably busy managing Stromgarde. I'd rather not add more to his plate."_

"Hey, Elie!" a familiar voice called out. "So this is where you were."

She perked up and spun her head to the left where she saw a young man with messy black and white hair and blue eyes. He was around eighteen, just like the twili girl. He was wearing a school uniform as well but he obviously wore black pants instead of a skirt.

"Hey, Charlie," Elie said with a light smile. "Were you looking for me?"

Charlemagne Riegen, otherwise known as simply as "Charlie", was one of her classmates and one of the only demons she would call a friend. Like her father, Charlie held no ill will towards the twili, saying that he found it "not awesome" to hate on someone for something that they couldn't control.

"Yeah," Charlemagne answered with a simple shake of his head. "Noctis and Astolfo fell asleep in class again, so they need a refresher on the topics we studied today. Think you can help me out with the tutoring?"

Elie let out an exhausted sigh. She should have figured that was the case. Those two classmates of hers never seem to take anything seriously. It was a miracle they haven't been expelled for their lack of involvement in their studies.

"Hang on, let me gather my things."

She quickly put some of her personal books in her bag and left library books on the table. Normally she would put them back herself, but she'll need all the time she can get to teach Astolfo and Noctic anything. They never seem to pay attention to anything for more than a few seconds.

Once she was done, Elie and Charlie began to head out, though not without drawing the attention of some of the students.

"Oh look, it's the half breed," a male student said cynically.

"I can't believe they let someone like her attend this academy," a female student jeered. "I feel ill just breathing the same air as her."

"Can you believe that scum like her is the daughter of a Viceroy?" another female student added in a deliberately loud voice. "I think her father just keeps her around as a pet. Why else would he take a half breed like her in?"

Elie didn't say anything. She kept a passive expression as she marched through the library. If she reacted in any way, that would just fuel her oppressors' egos and invite further torment. She had to be strong. She was a Mograine. But that didn't make their words any less painful. Is this really what the Shadow Goddess wanted?

They exited with no issue, but Charlemagne looked ready to punch someone.

"I swear those jerks are getting on my last nerves," he said bitterly. "They've got no right to call you such cruel things, especially after everything you've been through."

The white-haired girl gave her friend a reassuring smile. "Let it go, Charlie. Their words do sting, but I can grin and bear it if I have you and the others by my side. You all are able to accept me for who I am."

That seemed to do the trick as Charlemagne's face relaxed a little. "Okay, but I really hope your dad is able to find the prince and princess soon. It'll take an Umbris to make sure the twili are treated equally here in Eternus."

Elie would be lying if she said that she didn't have the same hope that her friend had. She had heard stories from her father about the Umbris family and their roles during the War of Light and Shadow. The one she was most interested in was Zane Umbris, the firstborn son of Altena. Maybe it had to do with those dreams she had been having, maybe she was sympathetic towards the half-demon because of the struggles he faced.

As the duo began heading for the dormitory where Astolfo and Noctis were waiting, the white-haired twili found herself looking up at the clear blue sky.

 _"Prince Zane, if you truly have been reincarnated, Eternus needs you,"_ she thought as a silent prayer. _"Whether it's people are willing to admit it or not. Where could you be?"_

* * *

Marth was sitting at the end of a large table in Dicey Café, the rest of the Black Legion, as well as Scathach and Rias, occupying the remaining chairs. The half-demon found himself looking out the clear glass window, his gaze raised to the sky above.

"Something wrong, Marth?" Kuroba asked suddenly, wondering why he suddenly zoned out. She was sitting in a chair by his right, parallel to C.C.

Ever since his defeat at the hands of Lucius, the Dark Swordsman began the transition to distance himself from his mask as Frank Furuta-Storm and fully embrace his Marth persona. While it was a bit too early for that since his demon blood hasn't fully awakened, he felt that it was a necessary change. If he was to become strong enough to defeat a demon lord like Lucius, then he can't keep hiding behind a mask.

Marth had not yet chosen a last name for him to use for his new identity, however there was one that he had in mind. He just wished there was a way to speed the awakening up. He was running out of time as his deterioration was getting worse by the day. It was getting harder and harder to hide it from the other Black Legion members, what with his pain surges becoming more frequent. It won't be long before Asuna and the others start to catch on, in fact the Lightning Flash was already starting to get suspicious.

"No," Marth said finally. "Just lost in thought. I wonder how things are in Eternus."

"I'm surprised you're interested in what's happening there," Sinon commented. "Then again, you are technically its crown prince."

Rias let out a light chuckle in amusement. "Once Meg awakens her demon blood, we'll have to begin planning to retrieve her divine weapon, the Star Blade Mercurius," she spoke up. "I have already narrowed down a few possible locations, but I still need a bit more time before I find the right location."

"I'm guessing Lucia didn't leave any clues on where she left her sword, did she?" C.C. commented in her usual blunt tone. "If she did, I doubt you'd be having trouble locating it."

"Unfortunately, you're correct," Scathach agreed. "Even I have only heard rumors on places where she could have stored it, none of them being easy to reach. Let us hope that Mercurius is not in Necronis Castle."

Marth turned his towards his mentor, his eyes looking confused by the statement. "Why's that?" he questioned.

"Necronis is the name of the royal palace located in Obsidia, Eternus's capital city," the Witch of Dun Scaith explained. "Obsidia was one of the first locations Zeta attacked and barely any of the good demons living there managed to escape. The city is now nothing more than a den for shadow beasts. Even after all these years, none of the ruling viceroys made any attempt to reclaim the capital."

Rias looked saddened by the news, her gaze falling towards the wooden table. "That's a shame, but understandable," the demoness replied. "Without the demon lords and the Umbris family, reclaiming the capital would be suicide."

"Well then that dream is impossible then," Kazuto spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "I mean, Rias is the only good demon lord left. Arcanos and Lucius are our enemies while Zarc is…"

Suddenly Marth slammed his fist into the table, cracking it a little. The sudden action made all of Nega Nebulus jump. "Even if that bastard's alive, I will never accept his help," he said bitterly. "He killed Altena, tried to sacrifice me to free Zeta's shadow, and nearly destroyed Tokyo thirty years ago. I'll never forgive him, no matter what."

"Marth," Kuroba said in sorrow, giving the half-demon's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Rias and Scathach shared a look of worry. They should have expected that the Dark Swordsman to hold resentment towards the False Demon King. They still haven't told him that Zarc was still alive. They were afraid of what his reaction would be. Those fears even intensified after today's incident.

Suddenly Asuna let out a slight cough to get everyone's attention. "Anyway, I think we should get back to why we're here. So Chrome Disaster has returned yet again. But how can that be? There shouldn't be any trace of its armor left."

"Well it looks like we weren't thorough enough," Shino replied, holding her chin with her right hand. "Somehow a piece of the armor must have survived and taken over another Burst Linker. Not to mention that it now has a vendetta against Marth."

"I don't think Chrome Disaster has taken over another Burst Linker," the Blade Eater spoke up. "Its whole presence felt…hollow…almost like there was nothing else inside of it. Not to mention that it somehow managed to force us into the Unlimited Neutral Field while we were in the real world. That shouldn't have been possible."

Kuroba nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, it shouldn't be possible. That kind of power is way too broken for a Burst Linker to acquire. That means that Chrome Disaster might be able to use a similar magic that allowed Rias and Scathach into the Accelerated World."

That made sense to the Dark Swordsman. If the incident was looked at through a scientific lens, then understanding how it happened would be impossible. If magic was added though, things started to make a whole lot more sense. Magic also must have been what had brought Chrome Disaster back to life, though that still raised the question on who was responsible for it.

Marth's first instinct was Arcanos. The demon lord didn't strike as someone who cared that much about who his allies were just so long as they were useful. He cast Seiji aside simply because the Burst Linker was too reckless and exposed himself to the entire Nega Nebulus, effectively making him a weak link. However, Chrome Disaster felt like the perfect kind of minion the demon lord wanted. A raging beast that devours anything it meets, sowing chaos across the entire Accelerated World. It would be a hard thing to pass up to have such a powerful creature on his side.

"Whatever it was, that still doesn't explain what happened to you, Marth," Kuroba brought up. "I've never seen your anger overtake you that much. Was that the dark side of the Incarnate System you were using?"

"No it wasn't," Kazuto said grimly. "I've seen that side of him before, a few times even."

The others looked confused, but Asuna, Klein, and Shino caught on, as well as Meg to an extent. To Kazuto's memory, there was only two times where he had seen his partner in that state. The first incident was in Aincrad right when PoH murdered Issei right in front of the Darkness Duo. Marth practically exploded in anger, a dark aura surrounding his body, and recklessly attacked anything that moved, including Kirito. Then there was the incident on Temporal Island, where not only were Klein, Asuna, Sinon, Yuuki and Thorrnn present, but the original members of the Origo Mercenaries.

The two groups had joined forces to escape the frozen island but soon learned that they weren't alone there. There was a terrible darkness slumbering there and was close to breaking from its prison. To stop this, they all ascended the Eclipse Tower located in the ruined capital of Arcadia. Together, they fought off the hordes of monsters that tried to stop their advance, but they broke through all the time. That is…until they were near the top where they fought a powerful dark beast, the dragon named Gungnir.

Just thinking about that dragon sent a chill down Kazuto's spine. He had never encountered a monster that powerful before, even in the original Aincrad. Its thick hide pretty much deflected everything they threw at it. Only Mythra, Kos-Mos, Marth's Lunara and Solaris, and Kirito's Excalibur were able to pierce through it to inflict any damage. They were slowly wearing it down until Marth got slammed into the ground by Gungnir's tail. The dragon then attempted to finish off the downed Spriggan with its claws, only for Thorrnn to shield her brother with her own body.

Even now, the sight of the green-haired Sylph falling limply to the ground, her armor in tatters while blood gushed from her severe wounds, haunted Kazuto. He felt completely helpless as he watched the sister of his best friend seemingly die before him. But that horror paled before what then happened to Marth. Anger and torment completely consumed him, causing that same dark aura to surround him, but unlike in Aincrad or Brain Burst, Marth's hair turned from black to a pale white.

In a bloodthirsty rage, Marth attacked Gungnir with an unnatural strength, his swords cutting deeper than ever. Eventually with Kirito, Kos-Mos and Mythra's help, he was able to kill Gungnir, but his rage refused to subside. He then began attacking his friends, despite Kirito's pleas to stop, but his best friend was too consumed to hear him. Then a miracle happened. Nia was somehow able to heal Thorrnn's seemingly fatal wounds with her Healing Arts. The revitalized Sylph then managed calm her brother down with her words. However, like the other incidents, Marth had no memory of what had happened and was horrified to learn what he did.

"Okay, do demons have some sort of anger enhancement thing that makes them stronger?" Klein questioned nervously. "Because that kinda thing isn't normal for humans."

"No, we don't," Rias gravely. "We demons may have a dangerous anger, but never to that extent. I don't think I've ever heard of a situation like that before. I probably wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes."

No, that was a lie. The Crimson Sorceress had seen an incident like that before, and it was someone she knew very well. The Twilight Swordsman, Zane Umbris. He too had unusual bursts of anger that augmented his strength, but even he didn't know the cause of it. However, Rias always found that strange power to feel…familiar but she could never place why.

"Anyway," Yuna interjected. "What are we going to do about Chrome Disaster? We can't let it keep rampaging around the Accelerated World."

"No, we can't," Marth agreed, his arms folded across his chest. "It doesn't help that Chrome Disaster is much more powerful now. I'm not sure if we can take him on our own this time. We may need to get more help."

Kuroba lowered her head and fell strangely silent. She looked hesitant about something. Unfortunately for her, her boyfriend noticed this.

"What is it?" he asked in concern. "Do you have an idea on where we can get additional support?"

The Black King bit her lip nervously. She shouldn't be feeling this way. She was the Greatest Traitor in the Accelerated World. But for some reason, standing before _them_ together again felt strangely intimidating.

"I…do," she said hesitantly. "We should request the aid of the other Kings of Pure Color."

Everyone was surprised by the suggestion, especially with it coming from Kuroba of all people. She saw the other kings, with Yuniko being a slight exception, as her enemies. For her to suggest asking them for help seemed impossible, especially since she killed the previous Red King, Red Rider, right in front of them and through trickery and deceit no less.

Unfortunately, Marth really couldn't argue with her idea. While other Kings, minus Yuniko, have a rocky relationship with his guardian, they were also some of the most powerful Burst Linkers in the entire Accelerated World. If Nega Nebulus is to handle this new threat, the other Kings will be necessary to achieve victory.

"Um, would they even listen to you, Kuroba?" Ayano questioned nervously. "You didn't exactly leave on good terms when you executed Red Rider. They might even just attack you on sight."

Kuroba let out a hesitant grunt as she clenched her fists on the table. She was clearly swallowing a lot of her pride to be willing to do this. It was practically tearing her apart. "We don't have much choice," she answered firmly. "Chrome Disaster threatens all of the Accelerated World, not just the Black Legion. I'm sure they'll be willing to hear us out." She turned her gaze to the female half-demon. "Meg, send a message to Yuniko. Tell her that Chrome Disaster has returned and that I wish to have an audience with the other Kings."

"You got it. I'll send after we wrap this meeting up. I may not know much about the other Kings of Pure Color, but I bet that Yuniko would be willing to help us. She's kinda latched onto me and Marth like we're her older siblings."

"Don't remind me," Kuroba groaned. "It's already bad enough that I have to ask for her help. I don't need you making it worse."

Marth chuckled in amusement. It was rare to see the Black King in this state so he had to enjoy it while he could. However, the mention of Red Rider caused him to remember something else. The Burst Linker who wishes vengeance against Black Lotus for the banishment of his friend and Legion Master. The level 8 Burst Linker, Dark Cerberus.

Supposedly he was just as powerful as the Seven Kings of Pure Color, but from what Marth had witnessed from his two encounters with the guy, those rumors were definitely justified. Cerberus's power was incredible, fitting for an avatar named after the three-headed dog that guards the Underworld. But there was something about him that was deeply concerning, and that was his rage. Vengeance seemed to be slowly overtaking him, similar to what happened to the Dark Swordsman during Disaster's surprise attack.

Marth didn't blame the guy for feeling that way. After all, Kuroba did kill Red Rider in a very cowardly move. By all accounts, it should be the black-haired fairy that should confront the Burst Linker, but Marth won't let him anywhere near her. He won't let anyone take someone he held dear away from him again. Never again.

 _"Dark Cerberus, you better start watching your back,"_ he silently promised. _"As soon as Chrome Disaster is destroyed, I'm coming for you next."_

* * *

**Later**

Kuroba decided to spend the night at the Hagino apartment yet again. With Chrome Disaster lurking about with the ability to force acceleration onto Burst Linkers, she felt concerned about staying by herself. Well, that and Disaster's fixation on her boyfriend. The Cursed Armament was willing to attack him even in the presence of a demon lord and an immortal witch. It clearly didn't care about its own survival just as long as it got its revenge against the one who defeated it. She was too afraid to leave his side. She was extremely lucky to have reached him in time back in Okinawa when Marth was nearly killed by the monster, Gandora. Such luck would not be repeated again.

Thankfully Rias was more than understanding and even teleported her to her apartment to gather her things so she could stay over. Magic really made things more convenient. It made the Black King wish that the demoness revealed herself sooner. The Crimson Sorceress even teased that Kuroba should stay full-time due to how often she was there, which caused the younger girl to blush in embarrassment.

She was currently in Marth's room, unpacking her spare clothes. The Black Wolf player had a few empty drawers that he never uses so he gave her the option to use them to store her clothes, which Kuroba was very grateful for. She should technically be staying in Meg's room due to them being the same gender, but the fairy wanted to stay by her beloved's side, protecting him just like when he protected her. Besides, he was pretty much used to sharing a room with a girl because of how often C.C. stayed in it. Not gonna lie, the mere thought of her boyfriend sharing a bed with another girl more than raised a few eyebrows with Kuroba.

"You alright?"

Kuroba jumped slightly from the sudden voice. She briskly turned on her heels and saw Marth standing by the door. He looked relatively calm despite their situation.

"Yeah," she said slowly, her energy practically non-existent. "Did Yuniko get back to us at all?"

"Yeah, she just messaged Meg back. She managed to convince the other Kings to meet with you. The meeting is in the Shibuya District at 5 o'clock."

"I see. I'm glad that they're willing to meet with me, but a part of me worries that this may be a trap to remove me from the Accelerated World. If I lose to a level 9 Burst Linker even once, then I'll meet the same fate of Red Rider and lose Brain Burst forever. I may even forget you and the others. There's no way I can take that kind of loss."

"It'll be fine," Marth assured as he entered the bedroom. "I'll be going with you, plus Rias will act as backup in case things go south. There's no way we'd let you go alone."

Kuroba couldn't help but smile in relief. She did regret what she did to Red Rider and still needed to make up for it, but she didn't want her precious memories of Marth and her friends to be the price. She'll find a way to make amends for Red Rider's death, but in her own way and on her terms.

She suddenly tackled her boyfriend into a hug, burying her face in his chest. She honestly didn't deserve to have someone like Marth in her life. She lied, manipulated people, even beheaded an innocent Burst Linker out of her own selfishness, her obsession to reach level 10 and meet the creators of Brain Burst. Even now, she still wanted to know why Brain Burst was created. What was it's purpose? Were the creators simply trying to make a hardcore game, or was there something more to it? There was something she was missing, something rather important, but she couldn't figure out what it could be.

Right now though, her desire to learn the truth about Brain Burst was in the backburner. Her main priority was stopping Chrome Disaster once more and protecting the boy she loved so dearly.

"Marth, whatever happens, I'm going to protect you," she promised. "You've protected me when I needed it. Now it's time for me to return the favor. We may be partners now, but I will always be your guardian. It's my duty to protect you."

The demon let out a chuckle before returning the hug, wrapping his arms around the fairy's back. "Okay, just try not to get into another coma. I don't think I can handle that a second time."

Kuroba simply giggled as she stroked the boy's back. "I'll do my best not to."

"I guess I can help out too," a familiar voice spoke up.

The couple snapped out of their reverie and noticed that they were not alone anymore. Sitting on the bed wearing nothing but a plain white button-down shirt was the android, C.C., though it did little to hide her cleavage. Her light green hair was somewhat damp, meaning she must have just taken a shower. Her golden eyes looked positively bored.

"I swear, C.C., don't you know anything about privacy?" Marth asked in annoyance. "It's bad enough that you just barge into my room whenever you feel like it. Do you really have to ruin moments like this?"

The greenette innocently shrugged in response. "Well your door was wide open so I just let myself inside." C.C. then cracked a mischievous grin. "Besides, don't act like you haven't caught me in rather _indecent_ situations as well."

"Marth, what is she talking about?" Kuroba said coldly, her bangs covering her eyes.

The Dark Swordsman let out a groan as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "You did that on purpose. Thanks a lot, C.C."

"My pleasure," the AI responded, her grin not wavering. "I'm sure that the three of us will get along swimmingly since we're all sharing the same room. Besides, most guys would kill to be share a bed with two beautiful girls."

Under other circumstances, Kuroba might have taken issue with that statement, but right now she wanted an explanation on why her boyfriend had caught the android in rather indecent situations, even though they were most likely accidental. The poor guy wouldn't be getting it easy until the meeting with the other Kings of Pure Color.

* * *

"In an inferno of power and might, a blazing new beast is now forged!" Hajime Nakamura chanted as he was in the Unlimited Neutral Field, his body surrounded by a crimson aura of power. Four green rings hovered above him as four white orbs of light lined in the center of them. "Witness as great power is fortified into a single vessel, as might becomes mightier!" A pillar of crimson light shot through the rings, consuming the white orbs inside. "Appear now. Red Dragon Archfiend!"

A black and red bipedal dragon emerged from the light. On its head was a crown of horns, the claws on its hands and feet looked easily capable of rending through flesh and armor alike. The dragon flapped its leathery red wings a single time before letting out a mighty roar.

"So I really can summon you here," Hajime said with interest. "I honestly didn't think that would work."

 _As expected though, you performed my summoning flawlessly,_ Archfiend replied as he gazed down at his master. _From this day forth, my enemies are your enemies. Together, we shall show the Black King and her pawns the consequences for their actions._

The black and red dragon took the words right out of Cerberus's mouth. They truly were the ideal pair. With this newfound power of his, he will show that traitor the power of a real king. Revenge was finally within reach.

"I hope you're ready, Lotus," Hajime said coldly. "When I'm done with you, you won't have the right to call yourself a king. I'll put you in your place and avenge Red Rider, once and for all."

**To be continued**

* * *

**Yeah, another cliffhanger but I can't really help it at this point. I debated whether or not to include that Temporal Island detail in this chapter as I have not reached that point in the actual arc within Connections, but that's kind of unavoidable given that Black Wolf takes place after Connections, especially since it involves Marth. Anyway, it looks like things are starting to heat up again. I wonder how Marth and the others will handle this. I'll see you guys next time!**


End file.
